No Place In This War
by V.Evergreen
Summary: Fighting in the final battle Hermione is faced with the destruction of the world she has come to love. After fighting for her life and losing she uses a last resort that causes a horrific time turner accident which leads her back to 1977; marauder era.
1. Chapter 1

_No Place In This War._

Running. Ducking. Weaving.

Hermione Granger pelted through the throngs of duelling wizards, shooting spells towards the enemy death eaters but never stopping in her desperate sprint.

She had to find him. He had to still be alive.

She slowed momentarily to take a swift look around her hoping against all hope that she would see that familiar blaze of red hair, willing with all of her mind to see him standing tall and fighting back against the tide of masked wizards that had stormed into the hall leaving only death and darkness behind them. She began to run in earnest again only to trip before even taking a few strides. Looking around from her position on the floor to see what had caused her fall she met the dull and lifeless eyes of Nymphadora Tonks.

The dead woman's eyes stared straight through her as Hermione recoiled slightly from her body. The once vivacious witch now lay strewn upon the floor with blood clotting from a wound on her head and her limbs splayed around her and her normally bright hair a mousy brown mess around her head.

From her low vantage point she could see all of the fallen who lay upon the cold hard stones which had once meant home to so many of them. She could see every one of her fallen comrades that lay lifeless and every death eater that fell on top of them all with dead blank eyes. As she began to shift from her position on the god forsaken floor she caught another familiar face. Her heart stuttered as she took in the empty face of Remus Lupin laying only inches from his wife; she could feel her mind threatening to collapse from the grief as she tried and failed to tear her eyes and thoughts away from the dead in front of her. Her thoughts were miles away as she thought of Teddy Lupin, a baby who would never know his wonderful parents, she thought of Andromeda Tonks as she waited with Teddy desperate to hear only good news. Good news that would never come. Her eyes burned and her throat felt so constricted that it was a wonder she could breath, but no tears came.

Tears were weakness and weakness had no place in a war.

Stumbling slightly she righted herself from the ground and once again began her frantic searching of the masses around her all to no avail, she began to push past the duellers and bodies before she heard a sound that made her mind freeze an her blood run cold.

"Mudblood!" came the insane cackle from behind her " didn't finish you the first time did I, Scum?" Hermione turned around with the strongest sense of foreboding she had ever felt in her life and came face to face with her attacker. Bellatrix Lestrange had her wand trained on Hermione and on her face she wore a terrible mask of grotesque joy that showed the insanity beneath her skin "I don't fail twice" she said her voice raising to a guttural scream "AVADA-" Hermione had her eyes squeezed shut in anticipation for what was to come; the end. The end of everything she knew and had fought for. She hoped that Harry won, but even more than that she prayed that Ron was around to witness their victory.

Because her eyes remained shut she did not see that body that hurtled towards her sending her flying out of the path of immediate danger but she did however hear the roar that made her eyes snap open in disbelief as she looked up.

"NO!"

Ron stood protectively over her and was looking at Bellatrix with a look of pure rage upon his features. Bellatrix remained deadly still in shock for a fraction of a second before a laugh bubbled out of her in a torrent. A scream of derisive mirth was ripped from Bellatrix as she looked from Ron's defiant face to Hermione's terrified one before just as quickly as it had began her laughter quietened into something much more dangerous.

"Avada Kedavra" whispered Bellatrix with her wand directed straight at Ron's chest. In that second as Hermione saw the stricken look dance across his face as he slowly toppled backwards, she knew that her worst fear had come to pass. Ronald Weasley was no more.

Hermione stared in horror at the body in front of her. Ron Weasley lay dead before her and he had died protecting her. He had sacrificed himself for her and now he was gone where so many had gone before him. As disjointed thoughts ran through Hermione's head all she could focus on was the need to crawl over to him, hold him and beg him to come back to her. As she lay there with suffering etched into every line in her face, a sharp cackle broke her reverie.

"Is the little Mudblood sad?" came the mocking voice of Bellatrix who was slowly and deliberately picking her way across the dead beneath her as she walked towards Hermione "Do you miss your blood traitor friend already?" she hissed as she reached Ron's body on the floor and casually rolled his body on to its side with her foot.

Hermione looked on with utter despair weighing down her every thought as she watched Bellatrix pick her way across the littered floor and for the first time she felt completely and utterly hopeless; she was going to die, Bellatrix's face was telling her so.

That was when Bellatrix made her first mistake, as she walked over she rolled Ron over to his side and in a sickening fashion his head lolled over as well.

That was when Hermione snapped. Her mind just stopped, but instead of being rooted to the spot as she thought she would have been she was filled with cold sense of purpose that felt both foreign and dangerous to her mind. In that instant Hermione became focussed on not just killing Bellatrix but _hurting _her and as she rose under Bellatrix's manic glare something in the younger witch's face made the older witch falter.

Hermione's eyes looked up to meet Bellatrix's and Bellatrix found herself unnerved by what she saw there; there was no anger or terror or really any emotion at all only cold focus that seemed to drive away the fear or doubt which had previously consumed the young witch. Bellatrix did not see the first attack from her opponent but she did manage to block it in time. Barely. Deciding it was only fair to respond in kind she sent a barrage of spells towards Hermione. The younger witch dodged and deflected most of the spells but after a few minutes of vicious duelling Bellatrix could see she was tiring, close to giving up. Heartened by the fact that she could rid the world of yet another young witch who she deemed unworthy to live she carried on bombarding Hermione with spells and it was clear to anyone who was watching that the battle was quickly becoming completely one-sided as Hermione ran out of strength to send back curses to Bellatrix and instead just tried to concentrate on not being completely finished by a deranged and deluded mad woman, but even this was turning out to be too much effort as she began to take the minor curses and hexes to her body and she fought to stave off the real damage.

Feeling her body complain from the strain she quickly and desperately cast her eyes around for another option before realizing her crucial mistake.

Bellatrix saw he opening as she watched her opponent's eye frantically search the once great hall for an escape. Pulling up magic from the deepest depths of her mind she screamed an incantation and watched in malicious satisfaction as she watched the young woman's body become airborne as she flew across the hall from the sheer force of such a spell and skid along the floor before being stopped by the stone wall with her head hitting it with a audible and sickening crack.

Hermione heard her head smash into the stone wall but she didn't feel any pain from the collision, instead she could sense her thoughts begin to dim in an almost pleasant way as she recognised that her mind, so often complimented by others, was slowly slipping away into the abyss of darkness and the unknown. She would have happily allowed her mind to wander until it could do so no more if it weren't for one nagging thought.

_Harry. _

The boy who she had watched turn into a man. The person who had lost so much and had tonight not just lost one best friend but was in the process of losing another.

_Harry._

The person who had turned out to be so good despite what he had been made to live through his entire life. The only person she had left in this world.

_Harry._

Her friend who after tonight would be left with very few friends and very little family. The person that they were all fighting for.

As though of their own accord she felt her fingers slowly begin to inch down towards the hem of her robes, reach into her sock and close around the small beaded bag she had so carefully and meticulously placed in there just hours ago. Was it really just hours ago? It could have been a lifetime ago and Hermione would not have been able to tell the difference. Time has a funny habit of turning to liquid and escaping your hands when you come to realise how precious it actually is. Groping with what little energy she had left she raked through the contents of the bag only able to try and distinguish what the items within her grasp were by the feel of them since she had long since lost the ability to raise her head and look at what it was. If she had of been able to look at what was being taken from her bag and discarded she would have seen a lengthy golden chain emerge from her bag with a rotating hourglass glinting in the light produced from the wayward spells. As it was she saw nothing and carried on with her desperate last attempt by searching her bag one last time hoping and praying that this one last endeavour would work. And it did. Hermione almost smiled when she felt her fingers scrape at the cool, smooth and rounded edge of the vial of blood red potion. She clenched her fist around it and slowly and painfully dragged her fist out from the bag it which it had lay. With a final burst of energy she opened her eyes a crack and watched as Bellatrix almost danced over to her with glee and when she judged that she was close enough she flung he fist forward with all of the pitiful strength she could muster and opened it causing the vial to fly across to Bellatrix's feet and land there.

With an insignificant and almost musical tinkle the glass of the vial cracked. Hermione watched in an almost mild interest (as that was all that she seemed capable of feeling at the moment) as the potion seeped out of the confines of the fragile glass and began to react violently with the air. She watched as it began to bubble and froth and she rolled her eyes up slightly to see Bellatrix's face break into a expression of profound relief as the potions reaction seemed to slow and stop with a gentle hiss.

That would turn out to be the last expression that Bellatrix ever wore on earth, at that moment the potion blew up under her feet with what seemed to be the force of a contained nuclear bomb which sent all death eaters and friends flying backwards a like within a twenty foot radius.

Hermione was once again struck against the unforgiving stone wall but this time she was sure there was no reprieve, no sudden burst of energy, no hope of staying alive. Her last sensation was of something being crushed under her hand which had thudded back to the floor after the explosion and finally she felt like she was falling, falling away from her world just as surely as the witch she had just obliterated had fell from hers

…

A/N- Ok, so I know it's cliché but truly and honestly? I couldn't resist, I have an amazing lack of self control when it comes to these things.

Please leave comments and reviews and please be brutally honest! I love reading time travel and I've just discovered that I love writing them too but sorry if I bore you. Overall thanks for reading to the bottom of the page and if you can take 15 seconds out of your day to write a review I can promise you that you will make me smile for the rest of the day, all the best-VE


	2. Chapter 2

_Hermione was once again struck against the unforgiving stone wall but this time she was sure there was no reprieve, no sudden burst of energy, no hope of staying alive. Her last sensation was of something being crushed under her hand which had thudded back to the floor after the explosion and finally she felt like she was falling, falling away from her world just as surely as the witch she had just obliterated had fell from hers._

"Remus, even _you_ can't defend him on this one" came a fierce whisper down the moonlit corridor "Did you see what he did? Of course you did, everybody saw what he did!" The young woman continued to rant to herself and the boy next to her as she had done for the last five minutes and to she was showing no signs of slowing down, "I mean really what was he thinking-"

"Lily," began the boy next to her rubbing his face tiredly "we've been over this, he _wasn't _thinking, but is this is James Potter we're talking about when does he ever actually think?" he watched out of the corner of his eye as Lily's face softened slightly in agreement.

"But still," Lily said unwilling to let the subject drop, " I thought he might have matured a tiny amount over the summer." Remus felt a slight tug at the corner of his mouth as he fount to control a amused smile.

"Lily, you do realise that James spent his whole summer with Sirius, right?" Remus questioned with his voice betraying him as to how funny he really thought the situation was. Seeing her confused expression he continued " What are the chances of _anybody _maturing when stuck with Sirius for the whole summer?"

"I suppose," she conceded before frowning as a particularly unpleasant thought hit her, " how am I going to walk into the Great Hall tomorrow?"

" Come on Lily, it's not that bad-"

"Remus, he declared his undying love for me while standing on the _table_, in the middle of the start of term _feast_! How can that possibly be classed 'not that bad'? demanded Lily her face reddening with anger at the memory of the previous mourning.

"Well look at it this way, he's done worse." Lily opened her mouth to fire off a retort but the words never came. Remus and Lily had just walked around a corner, both of them looking at each other and neither of them paying any attention to their surroundings.

It wouldn't have made any difference if they had been looking straight ahead for the force that ended up throwing them back was far too quick to pre-empt. Both prefect and head girl ended up skidding along the polished floor wearing identical expressions of shock. Remus was the first to recover and had soon hurried over to Lily to check if she was alright and offer her a hand up.

When both were standing and had checked for any injuries Lily began to creep forward to peer around the corner to see if she could determine what had caused her to be sent flying, her bet was on a prank gone wrong or a misfired spell but either way she would like to catch the culprits. She was just about to round the corner when she felt a hand on her shoulder both restraining and warning her. She looked over her shoulder to see Remus with his face set as he walked silently in front of her and took the first look to see what had happened. His body was blocking her view but she could see him visibly stiffen as he looked at whatever the sight was that greeted him was. When he looked back to her his face was of pure fear.

"What is it? Who's there-" Lily broke off as she pushed past Remus to see what was there for herself. Directly in front of her and a few metres down the hall a person was splayed across the ground as if she had been tossed there carelessly, lying in a pool of her own blood. Looking back at Remus with an identical expression to his upon her face they broke into a dead sprint to reach the fallen girl.

Upon reaching her Lily dropped to her knees to get a better look at her injuries but when she saw the girl properly for the first time all rational thought flew from her mind. Her face was unfamiliar but that only registered in the back of Lily's mind as she took in the broken girls body.

The girls limbs were all splayed at different angles with her right leg covered in shiny red burns and a large and deep cut on her thigh that was contributing to most of the blood that surrounded her. Looking up to her torso Lily flinched as she saw the cuts and wounds that littered her body and how her torn robes stuck to them.

When Lily finally looked up at her face her hand involuntarily flew up to her own to cover her mouth. The girls bushy hair fell matted against her face with blood from a gaping wound at the back of head that was still bleeding profusely, she had a deep cut which ran through her left eyebrow, down past her jaw and onto her neck. As Lily watched the girls half lidded eyes fluttered closed with a sense of finality .

But perhaps the most disturbing thing about the sight of this bloody and beaten body was the fact that the whole time Lily had been frozen and staring and Remus had been frantically searching for a pulse and trying to stop the bleeding at the back of her head with his robe, she had been smiling.

It was a small and mangled smile, but a smile none the less.

"Lily, her heart's stopped! What do we do?" Remus's voice broke through her state of shock as she head the desperate tone in his voice and took in the wide eyed and fearful stare he was giving her. His fear for the girls life seemed to steady her as her thoughts turned to how to save the woman in front of her.

"Remus, give me your belt." Lily's voice came out mechanical and efficient until she saw the his hesitation " DO IT!" Remus quickly undid his belt and handed it to her with shaking hands, Lily took the belt and paused to take a calming breath. Her mum was a muggle nurse and she wanted to be a healer when she left Hogwarts so she had a fairly good approximation of what to do but her task didn't seem any less daunting.

Shouldering her fear she began to work quickly tying the belt around the girls leg just above the deep cut and pulling it so tight that had she been awake the girls probably would have screamed. As it was she remained unconscious but the blood stopped flowing as freely from her leg, Lily moved on quickly, trying to ascertain if the girl the didn't have a pulse; Remus was right she didn't but her skin was still warm to the touch which was a good sign.

Turning around to face Remus quickly she instructed him to get Madame Pomfrey and get her here immediately. The sound of his footsteps fading told her that help would be at hand soon, she only hoped it wouldn't be too late.

When she turned back to the broken figure at her knees she released a breath she hadn't known she had been holding and lacing her fingers together she began her compressions onto the girls chest, wincing as she felt the ribs crack beneath her hands. She had lost count of how many times she had completed a cycle of CPR before she heard the sound that she had been straining her ears for .

Footsteps running towards her informed her that people were coming and she could only pray it was Remus retuning with the resident healer. Straightening her back to see who was approaching she felt her whole body sag with relief as she took in the welcome sight of Madame Pomfrey running towards her in her dressing gown (for the hour was quite late).

Shuffling over so that the older witch could take her place Lily watched as the healer muttered complex spells over the unconscious form of the girl whose bleeding seemed to decrease with every passing second of the spell that was being cast over her. Lily looked over at Remus who was standing behind her and she felt him gently pull into standing up as he wrapped a comforting arm around her middle and she saw rather than felt her fingers tighten around the front of his robes in a tenacious hold.

Both of them looked down on the medi-witch who had just finished pouring a vial of potion down the girls throat, they looked on she once again murmured a incantation and the tip of her wand began to glow as a white hot poker would do.

Lily stifled a sob that had been building in her chest as Pomfrey lowered her wand to the girls chest. Upon contact the girls back arched and her fingers twitched just as if she had been shocked with electricity. Poppy Pomfrey repeated this action twice before placing a slightly wrinkled hand at the girls neck. Frowning slightly she brought her wand down upon the girl once more and all who were present jumped as they heard the girl rasp for breath.

Her eyes shot open and moved frantically around the room as she dragged in another painful breath that racked her thin frame but even more surprising than this was that her lips started to move slightly as though she were trying to speak though no sound issued from them. Leaning in closely Madame Pomfrey spoke quickly and concisely as she knew the girls consciousness was draining away from her,

" What happened? Who did this to you?" seeing the girl was quickly losing the power to stay awake she tried one last question desperate to get at least a titbit of information from the girl " What's your name?" The older witches eyes opened in shock when she heard an answer though it had no more force behind it than a wisp of wind.

"H-Hermione" and with that the Hermione finally succumbed to the enticing allure of unconsciousness.

…

A/N- So here's chapter two I hope you like it. Updates won't always be this fast but hey, I'm on a roll! Please leave you thoughts in a review or a PM I really love the opportunity to improve my writing, wishing you well-VE


	3. Chapter 3

" _What happened? Who did this to you?" seeing the girl was quickly losing the power to stay awake she tried one last question desperate to get at least a titbit of information from the girl " What's your name?" The older witches eyes opened in shock when she heard an answer though it had no more force behind it than a wisp of wind._

"_H-Hermione" and with that the Hermione finally succumbed to the enticing allure of unconsciousness._

Remus and Lily both looked on as they watched Madame Pomfrey force potion after potion down the Hermione's throat only ever pausing to perform complex wand movements over her body. Remus was glad to see that although there was no drastic change in the way she looked she definatly appeared more stable and less likely to stop breathing again.

Madame Pomfrey straightened and placed a hand against her forehead while she racked her brains for any further action she could take to help the mysterious girl. Her injuries were without a doubt the worst she had ever seen on a person who had not died instantly and she had no hesitation in saying that if she had been found but a moment later they would not be trying to save her life; they would be trying to find out what had taken it. Seeing that she had done all she could for the moment, she realised what must be done. Silently she raised her wand and performed the incantation, she watched as the silver form of a fox patronus fled from the room carrying a message that was bound for Albus Dumbledore's office.

Both being too absorbed in their own thoughts on the girl they thought was called Hermione neither Lily nor Remus noticed the healers messenger leave the room and therefore it came as a shock when they saw the Headmaster striding through the hospital wing doors with a sense of purpose that can rarely be achieved with most people.

Remus stood immediately and took a step towards the headmaster with his intention being to explain what had happened over the course of the last half an hour and ask if he could see Hermione, if she was awake and lucid he wanted to be able talk to her and catch the bastards who had done that to another person.

However, when he looked back around at Lily all thoughts of talking to the headmaster vanished from his mind. Lily was sitting absolutely still apart from her shaking fingers that she seemed unable to control. Tears traced down her cheeks silently and her head was bowed downwards towards her lap as she surveyed her own hands. Since entering the hospital wing neither her or Remus had had the opportunity to wash their hands and it showed as Lily gazed at her own hands which were still covered in the congealing blood of the stranger they had found in the hallway.

A sudden gasp filled the room and it was quickly followed by a half choked scream that surprised all the other four occupants in the room. In half a beat Madame Pomfrey ran to Hermione's bed, angled her head back slightly and tried to tip a vial of purple potion into her mouth that was no doubt meant to soothe her back into going to sleep. However, much to everyone's surprise (including it seemed her own) Hermione lifted her hand and weakly tried to push the healer away. Although the action had no real force to it Madame Pomfrey withdrew her hand looking uncertainly at Professor Dumbledore who quickly stepped in front of her and spoke,

"Hermione," he began " do you know where you are?"

Hermione had yet to fully open her eyes but she had continued to stir in her bed since waking up however, when she replied her voice was so soft that everyone bent down to make sure that they heard her,

"Where's Harry?" at this question that had been voiced at a murmur Remus shot a look at Lily who was still staring intently at Hermione as though trying to extract information through sheer will power. Not sensing the confusion of the people who were crowded around her she raised he voice slightly although it sounded scratchy and hoarse " Did Harry win?" Remus felt pure shock ripple through his body at these words and he saw Lily take an involuntary step backwards and after a brief shared glance he knew that they were both thinking the same thing, _was it this person, Harry, who had tortured her like this?_

Taking it as a good sign that Hermione was lucid enough to speak coherently, Dumbledore tried again to speak to her, adopting a quiet voice he repeated his earlier question, " Do you know where you are?"

Hearing his voice Hermione opened her eyes and took in the scene around her for the first time since she had been found. They watched in trepidation for her reaction but were surprised when they received it. Her eyes swivelled from one face to another and they watched as her expression became confused but as soon as her eyes alighted on Remus she froze. Her breaths came quick and shallow and what little colour she'd regained under Madame Pomfrey's careful drained away from her face.

Seeing the situation arise and seeking to avert Hermione any more distress Dumbledore stepped in front of Remus and made to speak. Barely had he opened his mouth than Hermione seemed to focus on his face. This however had the opposite effect of what he was hoping for as for the minute Hermione registered his face she jumped so violently that she winced in pain at what this action did to all of her newly acquired injuries. Gasping both because of the shock of recognising two people who she knew for a fact to be dead and because of the sudden pain she felt across her body she did not see the healer who stood almost forgotten spring into action by grabbing the previously discarded vial of potion and empty its contents into her unsuspecting mouth. After choking slightly on the unexpected potion Hermione fell back onto Madame Pomfrey's arm which was placed around her back and then gently lowered onto the pillows behind her.

Looking up from the frail body of her new patient she was met with two pairs of shocked pairs of eyes and one pair of gently rebuking eyes. Briskly turning her back on the other people in the room she reached into a cupboard and pulled out a bowl and tweezers and sat herself next Hermione. Reaching for her hand she began to speak

"This girl is my patient, and while she is under my care, which she _is_ Albus," said Madame Pomfrey said in a clipped tone while levelling a glare at the headmaster "her health is my concern, I will not have you distressing her further." As she finished speaking she held up Hermione's hand and began to pick out what looked like splinters of fractured glass from her hand and set them into the bowl she had rested on the side of the bed.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to respond but his eye was caught by the two students who were standing by the wall next to the girls bed. Seeing how Lily looked unstable on her feet and was being supported by Remus he directed his speech at them.

"Mr Lupin, Miss Evans, I think you two had better get back to bed, don't you?" Though he spoke gently he saw both of their expressions of surprise at being addressed in the current situation.

" Yes sir" it was Remus who spoke for both of them as he gently steered Lily towards the doors. Just he was about to leave he hesitated and turned back and spoke in a clear voice " Will she be alright sir?" He said with a worried look at Hermione.

Dumbledore spared him a glance and fixed him with a stare "We can but hope, Remus" he said gravely before turning back to watch Madame Pomfrey continue to rid the girls hand of glass.

As soon as he was sure that both students were out of earshot he strode quickly around the bed and closely inspected the girls hand. There was something different and about this would compared to all of her others. All of her other wounds seemed to be made to inflict upon her as much pain as possible but this one looked almost … accidental. As Albus continued to study her hand (much to Madame Pomfrey's annoyance) he spotted something that he had missed before. Although the healer had undoubtedly cleaned the wound before she began to treat it, it was possible to see something that looked like dust in the wound. No it wasn't dust, it was sand.

Albus felt his face drain of colour as the final piece of the puzzle click into place.

Remus was worried about Lily. They were halfway back to the common room and she hadn't spoken a word to him although he could see the tears that continued to fall silently down her face. He sighed, he couldn't let her suffer in silence without telling him what she was thinking, gathering up all his courage and dispelling his fear that talking to her would make her more upset he made up his mind.

"Lily," he began tentatively " are you alright-" his voice tailed off when she turned to face him. She was even worse off than he had thought, he could see that clearly now that she turned to see him. Her hands were still covered with blood as were her sleeves but now she had streaks off blood that smeared their way across her face where it was evident she had tried to wipe away her tears without anyone noticing.

Under his concerned gaze Lily felt herself break down completely, soon she was sobbing into his chest while he wrapped her arms around her comfortingly.

"I-I thought sh-she was going to die Remus!" She managed to choke out between her sobs.

"But she didn't. Lily, look at me," when she didn't move Remus reached down to her face and gently tilted her chin up so her eyes met his, "if you hadn't helped her today she would have died. You _saved_ her."

Lily just squeezed her eyes shut at this point and carried on talking in a shaky voice "When you went to get Madame Pomfrey I had to start CPR, and it was just _awful" _her voice had lowered to a whisper " I didn't know if I was helping her or making it worse, I _felt_ her ribs break-" unable to finish her sentence she just stood there trying to hold back her tears.

Seeing that Lily was unable to carry on Remus tried to support her as they started walking but one look at Lily and he could tell she wasn't going to make it to the common room. _Shock_ he thought grimly _I should have got her something at the hospital wing. _Realising that she wouldn't be able to walk much longer he gently leant down slightly and when he stood up straight Lily was in his arms looking as though she hadn't even registered her feet having left the ground.

Setting off for the common room at a determined pace he prayed to a god that he had never believed in that both Lily and the mysterious broken girl in the hospital wing would both be better by the time that tomorrow took over from today.

….

A/N- Next chapter we have a conscious Hermione and Marauders! Thanks for reading and please check out my other stories if you like this one. Please review makes my day, all the best and none of the worst-VE


	4. Chapter 4

_Setting off for the common room at a determined pace he prayed to a god that he had never believed in that both Lily and the mysterious broken girl in the hospital wing would both be better by the time that tomorrow took over from today._

Hermione drifted into consciousness just as the sun began to burn through the early mourning mist causing watery sunlight to cascade into the room.

Her memory was hazy of the events that had came to pass the day before and it was all she could do just to lay in her bed and stare at the dust motes that swirled lazily above her head. Slowly her memories began to trickle back into her mind. She remembered the terror of the last battle as she desperately searched for Ron, as she battled her way through the masses duelling wizards, she remembered seeing Ron stand above her, proud and defiant. She remembered watching Ron- _Ron. _He was dead. Had Harry gone the same way? Her thoughts seemed to chase themselves within her mind as unbidden images flashed through her head: Tonks sprawled across the floor only inches away from where her husband lay, the look on Ron's face when he realised that for him the battle had ended. A physical pain ripped through Hermione's chest as she remembered the battle, she gasped at the intensity of the sudden pain and only after a full minute of her silent suffering did she realise that not all of this pain was brought on by her impromptu reliving of the past

Endeavouring to find out what had put her into this state she propped herself up on one elbow and gently tugged at the cover to reveal some of her body. She was not prepared for the sight that met her eyes.

What little she could see of her body under the bandages that seemed to swathe her, horrified her. Her skin was either the dark colour of black and blue that formed horrendous bruises or beyond that a deathly white that seemed to be so translucent she could see the faint traces of purple that formed her veins.

The bandages that covered her seemed to hide a good deal of damage as not only did most of her pain seemed to radiate from them, but many of them seemed to be sodden with her blood. Unable to comprehend the dire state of her health Hermione reached out to a bedside cabinet where out of the corner of her eye she could see her wand and to her surprise and delight a very familiar red beaded bag. Barely containing the groan of pain that nearly escaped from her when she moved she grasped her wand and immediately felt less helpless.

Casting an eye around the room she was laying in she noticed nothing out of the ordinary and nothing threatening. Hermione wasn't sure why but she got the distinct impression that she was in hostile territory, she couldn't remember the details but she did recall a feeling of pure fear that she had felt when she was moved here even if she couldn't remember why.

After a year on the run with Harry Potter the one thing she had learned above all others was to trust her instincts. Slowly so she wouldn't make any sound Hermione pulled back the covers and swung her legs off the bed and onto the floor.

Unable to hold back a hiss of pain she froze to see if she had alerted anyone that she was awake.

Silence.

Slowly she pushed back on the bed and straightened, holding her wand ahead of her while her other hand groped for her red bag. When she managed to grab it she slunk over to the white screens that blocked her from view of the rest of the room. Carefully edging one of them back she took her first look at the room where she was currently trapped and gasped at what she saw.

She was in the hospital wing, and not just any hospital wing the _Hogwarts_ hospital wing. The last time she had seen this room it had been the command centre for the final battle and a place to lay the grievously wounded, but the beds were empty and the room was neat and clean not like the last time Hermione had seen it.

And then as suddenly as if someone had flicked a switch within her head she remembered the night before. She remembered events that could not have been because they were simply impossible.

For example she could have sworn that she remembered seeing both Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin looking down upon her both wearing identical expressions of worry but that would mean she was dead or… Hermione opened her bag and unceremoniously tipped its contents onto the bed she had just vacated and began to frantically search through it.

It wasn't there.

No matter how hard she looked (and she even tried a summoning charm) she could not find her time turner. Hermione tried to remember back to the final battle when she had last used her bag, she had pulled many objects and just discarded them when she realised that they weren't what she was looking for, so in theory it was entirely possible (if slightly improbable) that she could have pulled out the time turner, but what could have caused it to shatter? Hermione had to rack her brains before the answer came to her. The time turner must have been close when she threw that vial of potion at Bellatrix. As the full gravity of the her situation hit Hermione she raised her hand to her mouth (not noticing the bandage that now encased her palm) as she tried to stifle a small scream, if she was trapped here having broken the time turner she had used then she was stuck here. The only way she could get back to her time would be to live through the intervening years.

No, she thought resolutely while trying to bolter her resolve, she would find her way back to Harry, he needed her more than ever.

Hermione closed her eyes and squeezed them shut as she tried to banish the niggling thoughts from the back of her mind which kept trying to tell her that Harry might never need her again, he might never need anyone or anything again. Harry had to be alive and that was all there was to it, she would live through all the years separating them if that was what was needed because there was no way that she was letting that _bastard_ kill him and everyone she had ever loved.

Lost in her own desperate thoughts Hermione did not notice the resident healer bustle out from her office with an armful of paperwork. She did however notice her when she gave a small shriek at seeing Hermione out of bed and, dumping the items in her arms on the nearest bed, all but ran over her and placed a steadying hand under her elbow.

"What are you doing up?" Came the stern voice of Madame Pomfrey that seemed to remain unchanged despite the years Hermione had crossed, "Come on back into bed." Carefully guiding Hermione back to her bed she noticed that the girl had picked up both her wand and her bag as though she were about to leave. How odd. When she had Hermione settled on the bed she busied herself with mixing the right amount of sleeping draught to give the girl when a certain voice made her stop.

"I'm not drinking that." Hermione's voice was hoarse and scratchy from disuse and the fact that the last time she had made any proper sound was to scream. In spite of this there was an air of certainty about her words and her tone of voice was one that the healer knew well. It was the tone of voice that said this girl was going to be a problem patient, Madame Pomfrey would recognise that tone anywhere and if it had been any other student then she would have snapped at them and not felt any remorse.

But, as it was, Hermione was still in a feeble state, she could see that and in light of everything that her patient had obviously been through she decided that she ought to give reasoning a try. _You never know _she thought, _one day it might actually work_.

Attempting a soothing tone the healer turned to Hermione " You have to take the potion, dear. The headmaster is coming down here soon and I daresay he'll have some questions for you to answer but until then the potion will just help you heal and relax."

Madame Pomfrey was surprised to see shrewd understanding in the girls eyes, "That's a sleeping draught and I am _not_ going back to sleep. Did you say the headmaster was coming down? Could you send him a message that I need to talk to him? Urgently." She added when Madame Pomfrey just stood there with an expression of mild shock on her face at finding herself conversing with a patient who shouldn't have been nearly as lucid as she was.

When Madame Pomfrey had finished sending a patronus Hermione leaned back on her pillows slightly allowing her body to relax. If Dumbledore was here then he could help her get back to her time she was sure of it. However in the meantime she would have to do her best to blend in and not attract too much attention to herself, _a harder feat than it sounds_ thought Hermione to herself, given that she could remember the young face of Remus Lupin hovering uncertainly over her as well as a glimpse of a red headed girl with very familiar eyes. She was fairly sure that her curiosity was going to get the better of her when she came face to face with the only people she (sort of) knew in this time.

Her musings were interrupted by the Hospital wing doors opening as a tall figure strode in. Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she recognised her old headmaster, she had forgotten what comfort and security he brought to a room, suddenly Hermione was sure that her circumstances were not as irrecoverable as she had first thought and there was a way back to help Harry.

Seeing that she was awake Dumbledore walked over to her bed and drew up the visitors chair to face her. With an unwavering blue stare that made Hermione feel as though she were back in her first year just having been caught running away from the third floor where the philosophers stone lay hidden the Headmaster spoke,

"I had think you had better tell me everything."

Hermione had not been expecting Dumbledore to be able to tell that they was something unsettling about her presence but she supposed that it made sense, if anyone would be able to tell when something had gone horribly wrong it would have been the man who had the greatest mind the wizarding world had ever known.

Taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the waves of pain this sent rippling across her chest she began to speak.

~o~o~o~

The first sounds to reach Remus Lupin's ears at breakfast the mourning after finding Hermione were not overly welcome.

"Ow! Sirius, you prat, was that really necessary?"

""Well Prongsie, if you start craning your neck just to see if Evans got into the hall before us, I say you _deserve _a slap upside the head." Sirius dropped languidly onto the bench the other side of Remus and started to pile food onto his plate, completely ignoring the filthy look he was getting from the other side of the table.

"I wasn't 'craning my neck'," muttered James sullenly " I just felt bad after last night-" James speech suddenly deserted him under the furious narrowed gaze from Remus.

Admittedly it must of looked bad when he had walked into the common room carrying Lily as though she were a bride and the situation probably wasn't helped that even when he had set her down on the floor again she wouldn't let go of him and just stood there with her hands clenched around the fabric of his robes and her face buries into his chest.

_But_ thought Remus with a slightly icy tone taking over his mind _there was no need to over react like James did. _Remus was lucky to have caught the outraged expression on James's face and have the quick thinking to disarm him before he really got into his stride. Of course this didn't dissipate James anger, it only made it worse and, being as it was, and James being James he had decided to stride across the common room and accuse Remus of being a "back stabbing bastard" and tell him in no uncertain terms that he never wanted to talk to him again. Remus had given up trying to talk though James about mid-rant. Instead it was Lily who had stopped him shouting at Remus, all she had to do was look up from Remus's chest and wait for James to actually calm down enough to properly see her. It was obvious the second he noticed her as his voice suddenly quelled into nothing as he took her blood and tear stained face in. Kindly but firmly Remus palmed Lily off onto one of her friends with strict instructions to make sure that all of the blood was washed off of her face and hands. Rubbing his face tiredly he motioned for James to sit down and waved Sirius over who had been overlooking all of the previous events with an air of vague amusement and told them off what had transpired earlier that evening.

He may have been telling his friends his account of what had happened but his thoughts remained fixated on two things. His first thought was with the girl, Hermione, in the hospital wing as he desperately hoped she clung to life even only if for the selfish reason of that he had no idea what toll her death would take on Lily.

Lily. His thoughts continued to dwell upon Lily upstairs hopefully resting after the evening events even though he highly doubted that she was.

Remus took a quick look down the table and sure enough he could see Lily sitting between two of her dorm mates who were desperately tying to drag her into their bright and light hearted conversation to no avail. She sat at the table without lifting her eyes even when someone aimed a direct question at her and barely touched her food that one of her friends had placed in front of her obviously in the vain hope that she might eat.

Sighing slightly, Remus swung his legs off of the bench where he'd been sitting and made his way over to Lily, not knowing what he was going to say but knowing he had to say something.

However as it turned out he needn't have worried about finding such elusive words because no sooner had he reached Lily the doors of the Great Hall swung open to reveal a slight and petite figure that was leaning rather heavily on a wooden cane. Looking down at Lily he saw his shock copied perfectly onto her face.

Not noticing their strange interaction Hermione began her slow walk towards the Gryffindor table.

…

A/N- Sorry for the long delay but I hope it was worth it. This chapter may be slightly dull but it is needed and hopefully the next chapter will be a lot more fun, hoping for reviews (hint, hint), all the best-V


	5. Chapter 5

_However as it turned out he needn__'__t have worried about finding such elusive words because no sooner had he reached Lily the doors of the Great Hall swung open to reveal a slight and petite figure that was leaning rather heavily on a wooden cane. Looking down at Lily he saw his shock copied perfectly onto her face. _

_Not noticing their strange interaction Hermione began her slow walk towards the Gryffindor table._

When Hermione finally reached the Gryffindor table she slowly lowered herself onto the bench all the while taking care not to bang anything that would cause ridiculous amount of pain. Keeping her eyes cast downwards and her movements slow she carefully stowed away her cane. A cane that she had objected to most venomously. Hermione had tried and tried to get the healer to let her out of the hospital wing without it but her pleas had fallen upon deaf ears and she had only grudgingly accepted the use of the cane when the headmaster told her that if she could walk out of the hospital wing without then she could carry on without it. Needless to say within three steps of trying to make her slow escape Hermione had overbalanced and ended up grabbing Madam Pomfrey, who had been hovering protectively over her, in an effort to stay upright. Dumbledore had chuckled slightly at her apparently "admiral" determination but had told her in no uncertain terms that she was to use the cane until such time when Madame Pomfrey no longer deemed it necessary.

Hermione was surprised to see how quickly the old professor had regained his sense of humour considering that not five minutes before she had just finished telling him the entire chain of events that preceded her sudden presence at his school. His reaction, she supposed, was slightly unusual. Instead he had listened until she had no more to say and when she had finished he stood up. Slightly nonplussed about the fact that he had no reply to what she had just told him she asked him what they were going to do.

"Do?" Questioned Dumbledore, "We cannot _do_ anything, Miss Granger. As much as it pains me to say it, the future must remain unchanged. The world you know would cease to exist, instead to be replaced by the unknown and we have no idea if this would be more desirable than the world you speak of. No, it is imperative we get you back to your own time before your presence causes too much disturbance within the timeline.

After his speech Dumbledore swept out of the room leaving Hermione behind him feeling more out of place than ever.

When Madam Pomfrey bustled back to Hermione's bedside she was informed that she would be a seventh year student until a more "permanent" solution could be found. Although Hermione understood that meant until she could return to her time the words seemed to confuse the healer and she set about changing Hermione's dressings with a small frown puckering her forehead.

Quickly bring herself back to he present Hermione took a surreptitious look around the familiar hall. It looked just like she remembered it to before the war stained her memory of it. Unerringly her eyes sort the patch of floor where in twenty years time she would fight for the fate of the wizarding world, where she would kill another woman when she lay dying and where she would see Ron for the last time… feeling her eyes well up of their own accord she quickly cut off that train of thought. If she was going to remain sane she was gong to have to focus on the positives and what she had to return to in her own time.

Hermione marshalled her thoughts and thought of the future, her first and foremost thought was for Harry, if he had survived to rid the world of Voldemort (_he had to _Hermione thought fiercely to herself) then he would need her. He would need to be there for him and she needed him. She was all the family he had even if it wasn't in blood and she loved him like a brother. Harry wasn't all she would miss either. When she thought of Ginny and the Weasleys her resolve to stay strong nearly deserted her. It would be pure devastation to the family and particularly to Molly to lose her children in a war that had claimed so many.

Hermione wondered what would happen to Teddy. She knew that he would live with his Grandmother as there was no other option for him, but it tore at her heart when she realised that he would never meet his parents. That he would spend most of his childhood wondering what sort of people they were, much the same way as she was sure that Harry did. He would never get to know his father who was sitting mere metres away Hermione.

Her depressing musings were suddenly broken, perhaps for the best, when a extremely tentative and shaking hand tapped her shoulder with as much force as a passing breeze. As though the person thought she would shatter like china if they dared tap her too hard. Hermione had to suppress a wry smile when she thought that they properly had the right idea.

Turning her torso as much as her slightly mangled but very sore body would allow she was assaulted with the image of a very familiar pair of eyes. Considering how her thoughts had been dwelling on Harry only moments before it took all of her willpower not to react when she saw his eyes copied exactly into another persons face. Struggling to maintain her poker face she looked at girl who seemed to be unsure of what to say to her. When she really looked at the girl who she knew beyond a doubt was Lily, she noticed that she looked awful, though probably not as bad as she herself looked. Her face was pale which made her red rimmed eyes stand out more and her hair which Hermione noticed was a beautiful deep auburn colour was pulled back into a hastily made ponytail which seemed to be doing a poor job of keeping her hair from escaping. Lily didn't seem to be inclined to talk despite the fact that she had approached Hermione.

"Hi, I'm Hermione," She said calmly while slowly bring her hand up she offered it to Lily who took it while still staring at her.

"I'm Lily," she said weakly before clearing her voice and speaking in a more collected tone "do you mind if I sit here?" When Hermione smiled at her she delicately folded into her chair, "So," began Lily in a would be casual voice if Hermione couldn't hear the strain behind it, "I haven't seen you before, when did you arrive?"

Hermione almost laughed at how nervous Lily seemed around her but decided to put her out of her misery, " I got here last night, but I'm guessing you already know that." She said while eyeing Lily for her reaction, sure enough she saw Lily's eyes open slightly wider at her words before she continued, "Thank you for helping me." Said Hermione quietly while keeping eye contact with Lily.

Lily seemed to sag slightly under her gaze before she burst into speech, "What happened to you? When we found you- me and Remus, we thought you were dead! When he left to get help you _did_ die, well your heart stopped beating-" Lily tailed off before looking sheepishly at Hermione who she had just realised she probably didn't know well enough to ask such personal questions but she couldn't resist adding one last one in a quiet undertone, "Who did this to you?"

Hermione was infinitely glad she had come up with a semi-plausible cover story while walking down to the Great Hall and reeled off her cover story. She told Lily how she went to small school of magic that was only an hour away from her home in Dorset because her parents wanted to keep her close. She told Lily how because of a combination of being a muggleborn and friends who seemed to attract danger (_well _she thought _at least that much is true) _she had come to own her very own place on Voldemort's hit list.

"So, to cut a long story short," said Hermione while trying to ignore the fact that she had been talking for five minutes without interruption, " the death eaters stormed my house late one night but I had a few emergency precautions in place. They managed to get to me a bit but I managed to grab a portkey I hid in my room. Unfortunately," Hermione grimaced "it was one I enchanted myself so the journey was, shall we say, a little rough." With her story finished Hermione risked a glance at Lily who looked suitably horrified. She felt bad about lying to Lily but really, what other option did she have? She couldn't very well tell her the truth.

Seeing the stricken look still upon Lily she began to eat slowly hoping that no one else would question unto her back story. Hermione was pretty sure that they would and she hoped she could be as vague as possible without raising any suspicion; lying had never been her forte, in fact she was nearly as bad at lying as Harry, but she supposed she was the only one who ever caught him so that probably didn't count.

"Did Harry do this to you?" The question that was voiced so quietly was enough to make Hermione's head whip around to stare at Lily who was looking at her intently, "When we got you to the hospital wing you talking about someone called Harry and asking if he won so we all just assumed…" Lily's voice died out as she saw a shadow of relief cross Hermione's face.

"No! Not at all! Harry was one of my friends who was at my house that night, I'm-I'm not sure what happened to him." Though talking about Harry to his mother of all people Hermione had the strangest sense of relief pass through her though it was mixed with a fair bit of hysteria at the fact that she hadn't let anything slip while she had not been in her right mind.

That was when, in Hermione's opinion, things started to go drastically wrong. Walking quickly towards them was Remus Lupin. Though he still looked tired his face had no lines to it and his hair bore no streaks of grey. As different as he looked now all Hermione could see where his blank lifeless eyes looking back at her as he lay beside his wife.

Fighting to repress the memory she plastered what she hoped was a friendly smile though she suspected from his still worried expression that her smile had not convinced him. She had forgotten how perceptive and observant he was; she would have to be careful around him. When he reached the bench opposite to the girls he appeared hesitant to sit. Deciding to try to put him at ease she reached across the table, while wincing slightly at the spasm of pain it caused, and offered him her hand.

" I hear I have you to thank as well." She said quietly when he took her hand. He looked slightly more comfortable around her and replied in kind.

While Lily filled in Remus as to her story she considered briefly the problem at hand; she had accepted that she would have to see and talk to Lily being as she would share the same dormitory with her, and to a certain extent it might be easier being around her seeing as she had never met Lily in her time .

On the other hand if she got to know Lily too well then she would invariably have to spend sometime with the marauders considering that she knew that this was the year that Lily and James finally got their act together. It would be a lot harder to maintain her cover when in her time she had met three of the marauders personally and knew all of what their fates held.

As if her thinking of them had magically summoned them she had to hold back a gasp when she saw the rest of the marauders meandering over to join their small group of three. When she looked over at them she experienced the same shock as when she had first seen Remus in this time. All of them looked so _young_. Her eyes first fell on Sirius and at first she had trouble believing that it was the same person she had seen a million times before. He was slightly lanky though it could be passed off as lean and had an air of elegance around him. His hair was cut long enough so that it seemed to fall into his eyes and his face didn't possess the wasted quality she had seen that Azkaban had given him. The biggest difference that Hermione could see was not something physical, at least she didn't think so. There seemed to be a buzz around him like youth, vitality and energy wrapped into one.

So as not to appear that she was staring at him she tore her eyes away and looked at the person who was laughing beside him. James Potter. Hermione had only ever seen a picture of him of course but even that didn't really seem to capture him. People were right when they said that Harry looked like his father. But Hermione couldn't help noticing the differences between them as she eyed James critically. James' nose was slightly longer and his mouth slightly wider. Of course in the last she had seen Harry there would be an even bigger difference between him and his father. On their year on the run Harry had grown skinner and slightly sallow; they all had, and this was completely different to James. Although his hair stood on end like his sons it was easy to see that he was well groomed and looked after, you could see it in his eyes and his relaxed posture. Finding it hard to continue to look at James because of his likeness to his son she looked behind him and instantly wished that she hadn't.

Cold hatred washed through her mind as she saw Peter Pettigrew, it left her with the same sense of purpose she had felt before she snatched away Bellatrix's life. Trying to regain control of her mind and her emotions she focused on how he looked opposed by what he was, he still had watery eyes but although Hermione would rather face Bellatrix again than admit it he wasn't ugly. He had a sort of chubby cheeked charm but Hermione could barely look past her loathing for him to see it.

As she was staring at Peter a strange thought came into her head, a dangerous thought. She could stop Peter before he ever betrayed Lily and James. She could wipe his memory and leave just like Lockhart was back in her time, alone, innocent and with no idea who he was. She could even _kill_… Hermione headed off her thoughts a little ashamed that her thoughts had jumped to murder so quickly but not entirely surprised.

It came as quite a shock to Hermione when she realised that everyone had sat down around her and Lily and were looking at her expectantly.

"Oh right, I'm Hermione." Ducking her head slightly she shook all of their hands in turn, when she came to Peter she briefly shook his hand once and snatched her hand away as though she had been scolded.

"So Hermione," started Sirius in a drawl which didn't quite hide the humour in his voice "what brings you to our humble school?"

Hermione was amused to see Lily and Remus both close their eyes in exasperation at his tactless question, but even so she was more thankful than ever when the bowls off food cleared from the table signalling the end of breakfast and the beginning of the days lessons. As everyone made to get up Hermione remained seated until Lily turned to her.

"What lesson have you got first?"

Hermione who had been given her timetable before breakfast didn't bother to consult it as she answered Lily "I'm not doing mourning lessons yet, Madam Pomfrey didn't want to let me out the Hospital Wing but I wanted to start school. I'm meant to be resting for the first two periods before I'm allowed to properly start the lessons."

Lily looked at her with concern "Do you want us to show you the way to the common room, me and James have to back that way to get to Arithmancy?"

Hermione was had to contain a laugh when she saw James's face light up when Lily said his name, it must have been a rare occurrence for them to be a first name basis.

"No, I think I'll go the library." Replied Hermione taking one last sweeping look around the hall before leaning heavily on her cane to rise from her spot on the bench.

"I walk past that way, I could take you there." Came a quiet offer from behind her and she swivelled to see Remus standing there looking acutely uncomfortable. Looking at him she found a small but genuine smile working its way onto her face.

"That would be great, thanks." Said Hermione lightly while struggling to keep pace with the rest of the group. Seeing this Remus slowed down to walk beside her as he lead her to the library.

Up close Hermione could see that he looked slightly paler than what could be classed as healthy and much more tired than she had originally thought. The full moon must be approaching. Hermione felt incredibly sad for him when she realised that there was nothing she could do for him; she had looked at the instructions on how to brew the wolfsbane potion but didn't dare try it without having fully memorised the text and because of the time period it's not like she could find written instruction- a small thought niggled at the back of her mind until she finally grasped it. She remembered placing every manner of books she could lay her hands on into her beaded bag before she had left to join the hunt for horcruxes. There might be something in there; it was definatly worth looking into.

"So, you go to the library to rest?" The question from Remus startled her momentarily before she gathered her wits.

"Yep, even did it in my old school, used to drive my friends crazy." She said giving a small laugh that sounded incredibly strained even to her own ears.

Remus smiled a little at her answer, Hermione knew that he too loved to read, but the short moment of peace was interrupted. A small second year boy came hurtling up from behind them obviously late for his lesson if his running was anything to go by. As he ran past he clipped Hermione on the shoulder but continued running. Although the blow was weak it was enough to topple her over in her weakened state and she fell towards the floor with alarming speed as her hand let go of her cane in surprise. However with is heightened reactions Remus snagged her around the waist before she could fall, but quickly felt awful as he realised that him grabbing her was probably likely hurt like hell with her injuries.

He steadied and let her go but looking at her face something seemed amiss. Her face carried the schooled expression of someone trying not to show pain; he should know, he wore that face after every full moon. Even as he looked at her she gave him a tight lipped smile, picked up her cane with a painful wince and began walking more briskly than before. He was left to ponder why this girl in front of him was so averse to showing weakness.

A/N- First off thank you to every one who reviewed ect. Please carry on reviewing as I am a person who has so little motivation it astounds me, and the reviews really do help! This chapter is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of James and Lily Potter's death (yes, I know they are fictional characters as my friends were _kind _enough to point out, but it's still 30 years since it all began), all the best -V


	6. Chapter 6

_He steadied and let her go but looking at her face something seemed amiss. Her face carried the schooled expression of someone trying not to show pain; he should know, he wore that face after every full moon. Even as he looked at her she gave him a tight lipped smile, picked up her cane with a painful wince and began walking more briskly than before. He was left to ponder why this girl in front of him was so averse to showing weakness._

For Remus the day seemed to fly by. They always did when the full moon approached. Before he knew it he was in the common room and waiting for the end of break. When it came it seemed almost a relief as his friends had been irritating him beyond belief. Remus knew it wasn't really their fault but a stressful and late night combined with the full moon tonight was enough to set his teeth on edge. As he clambered out of the portrait hole and started to make his way to transfiguration he was quickly caught up to by Lily. She was looking considerably better than she had done this mourning and Remus knew was the fact that Hermione was on course to make a full recovery was the reason behind it. Quickly tuning out her chatter he just nodded when she paused for breath until they reached the transfiguration classroom where he pulled open the door for her. Although he knew it was rude he couldn't help himself; as Lily continued talking to him he walked past her and settled at his desk gritting his teeth against the ache that seemed to permeate all of his bones at once.

~o~o~o-

Lily mentally chided herself when Remus brushed past her and sat at his desk. She could tell he was hurting and the only thing she could do to help him was to try and take his mind off of the pain she could tell he was feeling. Lily knew he was a werewolf, and if she was honest when she had first found out the idea had terrified and confused her at the same time. Being a muggleborn with only books to guide her she had been led to believe that he was a dark creature who under no circumstances should ever be trusted. _Ever_. In every book that Lily could find the pages within always depicted werewolves killing and maiming senselessly with no regard for anything except their desire for human flesh. What didn't help the case was that in all of these books the message was clear _kill the werewolf before it kills you._

The confusing part came from actually knowing a werewolf. Remus was the most reserved, thoughtful and simply _kind _person Lily had ever met. He seemed to exude calm through his demeanour and people still often laughed that he was the only one who was allowed anywhere near Lily for the latter part of the fifth because of the fact that she was liable to snap at anyone who interfered with her revision but for some reason ( and much to the irritation of James Potter) Remus had always managed to soothe her somewhat frazzled nerves and make her relax. What did sadden her was not the fact that he had not told her himself; she could understand why he would want to guard that particular secret. No, what she hated was the fact that she had never told him that she knew, she had had so many opportunities and yet each time she opened her mouth to force out the words her courage would evaporate. How was she supposed to tell him? It wasn't a topic that one could bring lightly into a conversation and she didn't want him to think that she was intruding into his business.

These reasons seemed to wither hen she actually saw him. Remus sat two rows ahead of her and Lily could tell by his stiff posture that he was in pain. It was the full moon tonight after all. Still looking at him, Lily felt her heart soften; she would tell him that she knew and she would do it soon, because in the end everyone could use another friend in whom they could trust.

Being so involved within her own thought she didn't see the classroom door open to admit two more students. She did however note them after they started walking into the classroom. She watched as James walked beside Hermione talking easily to her and even bringing the occasional twitch of a smile onto her face. However, she didn't miss the protective way that James walked beside her or the way that his hand was hovering around her elbow ready to catch her if she fell or misplaced her cane and judging by the half amused and half exasperated look on Hermione's face she didn't miss it either. Lily quirked her eyebrow at the oddly thoughtful and endearing action of James Potter's and tried to hide the small smile that was threatening to break on her face.

~o~o~o~

Hermione had been almost glad when James had pulled her away from the library to walk her to their lesson so that she wouldn't get lost. She had almost laughed at the irony of getting lost but had managed to hold back her mirth.

Despite this Hermione was still glad for the change of scenery this had brought and in hindsight she had realized that maybe vigorous study into the strange and complicated web of time hadn't exactly constituted as rest. And as much as she hated to admit it she really did need that rest. All in all she was quite glad when James turned up at the library in spite of the fact that she found him quite hard to look at ( people hadn't been exaggerating when the said that Harry greatly resembled his father although Hermione could see many differences, Harry's face was thinner and James's nose longer, but thought that this was because she had known Harry better than he had known himself most of the time) because she had just been wondering how she was going to explain how she had managed to make her way from the library to the classroom without so much as getting lost but here was James giving her the perfect excuse.

When they entered the classroom she was still talking to James and listening to the of retellings of all of the pranks he had pulled with the marauders over the years and some of them were so similar to the ones that the Weasley twins had pulled that they brought a quick smile to her lips before she wiped it from her face.

When James gave her a quick reassuring smile and took his seat Hermione felt more out of place than ever. Trying to find somewhere to sit she didn't hear Lily call her name until the second time,

"Hermione, come sit over here!" Hermione smiled slightly in relief and made her way over to Lily's table while smiling in acknowledgement at the girl who sat on Lily's other side table.

When Professor McGonagall entered the room silence immediately reigned and the lesson began. Hermione was slightly surprised to note that in her time the curriculum was slightly more advanced than now and due to this and the fact that it was a pure theory lesson Hermione let her mind wander. She was also surprised when Lily began packing up her things but when she looked around and saw that everyone was she hastened to do the same.

"What do you have next?" Looking at Lily Hermione gave a thoughtful frown for a second before remembering.

"I've got a free, you?"

"Me and Dorcus," said Lily while motioning to the girl who had sat next to her "have both got care of magical creature. Where you gonna go in your free? I could walk you back to the library if you like?"

Without realising that she was doing Hermione shook her head vigorously. A bit too vigorously; she wasn't used to having to slow down her movements to avoid pain and it showed when she barely managed to hold back her wince. "I've had enough of the library for one day." In truth Hermione wasn't willing to subject herself to the onslaught of useless information that she had come across while trying to make a little headway on the subject of time and ho to manipulate it, "I think I'll just make my way back to the common room."

"Will you be able to find it okay?" Interjected Dorcus, tilting her head slightly in puzzlement

"I'll take her," said a quiet but noticeably strained voice " I've got a free as well." Remus turned slightly so he was addressing Hermione "Ready?"

Hurriedly thanking the girls Hermione scooped all of her belongings into her bag that Dumbledore had given her as well as all of the books, and slung it over her shoulder; although the action caused more than a twinge of pain Hermione felt the familiar motion comfort her.

~o~o~o~

As they walked through the hallowed halls of Hogwarts with the faint sunlight illuminating the path ahead of them Remus knew he was being terrible company. He found it strange to be walking beside a girl who had gone through so much and was at a loss to say to her, let alone what to talk to her about. That and his temper was fraying due to the inevitable rise of the full moon tonight and was not helped by the steadily increasing pain; in fact as much as he loathe to even think it he was glad that Hermione was having to walk slowly and accommodate the use of her newly acquired cane but it did save him from having to think up an excuse as to why he was unable to walk at any normal speed.

Still he still found it slightly discomforting to be walking in complete silence so he braced himself mentally and forced his voice into a civil tone,

"So, what subjects are you taking?"

~o~o~o~

Hermione looked up at Remus in surprise when she heard Remus's question. She didn't think he'd talk to her at all; back in her time on the day of the full moon her usually mild mannered and considerate former professor would turn into a man with an incredibly short temper and even harsher tongue. Struggling to collect her thoughts she searched for an answer,

"Erm, everything apart from divination and muggle studies."

Her answer seemed to shake Remus out of his slight stupor as he looked down at her thoughtfully,

"That's a lot of subjects. What one's your favourite?" He asked quietly.

"Arithmancy," was the answer that immediately sprung to Hermione's lips and she was glad to see that it brought about a small ghost of a smile to Remus's face.

"Mine too."

~o~o~o~

Hermione had had to keep her emotions in firm check when Remus had uttered the password to the portrait, especially when it had swung open and revealed a room that was so achingly familiar that all Hermione wanted to do in the world was to curl up on the floor and cry until she could cry no more. Her first tentative step inside of the common room had started a barrage of memories that continued to assault her mind even when she closed her eyes. But even with her eyes closed she could almost believe that Harry and Ron and all of her other friends were still there jut going about their daily lives as she had seen the do more times than she could possibly imagine to count.

She could almost see Harry playing against Ron in a game of wizarding chess and losing spectacularly . She could almost hear the voices of Parvati and Lavender as they giggled over a fresh piece of gossip; the sound was so real to her that it was almost tangible.

She could almost smell the suspicious smell of smoke that seemed to permeate the air most days back in her time; especially when the twins had been demonstrating their latest product in their ever growing line of merchandise. These memories overwhelmed Hermione and it was all she could do to hold back the tears; she had to be strong, strong enough to put on a brave face. But when she opened her eyes the illusion of familiarity was quickly shattered. Almost every head in the common room was turned to her and each wore similar expressions of curiosity, apprehension, and if she wasn't mistaken (which so rarely was) there was a bit of fear mixed in with most expressions probably due to her unquestionably beaten appearance.

Hermione sighed to herself while she tried to inconspicuously make her way over to the squashy armchairs near to where Remus appeared to be studying. As she settled herself into the chair she found herself at a loss of what to do. What is the appropriate thing to do in these situations? What she really needed was an escape from the world, somewhere to somewhere to regain a tenuous hold onto her rapidly dissipating sanity, and what better way to do that than comfort reading? It seemed strange to Hermione that after all she had been through she still had _Hogwarts; A History _in her small beaded bag. She could remember packing it but it seemed an age ago; another lifetime. And in a roundabout way she supposed it was a lifetime ago for her at least.

Drawing out her beaded bag from her robes (for she had slipped it in there this mourning; she flat out refused to be without it because of all the times she could not have done without it) she put her arm in up to her shoulder and rummaged around for the dog eared edges of her book. With her arm still submerged she looked up and caught Remus's questioning look.

"Extension Charm." She said with a slight smile as a way of explanation before he turned back to his half finished essay.

With no warning her fingers suddenly closed around a thick book and with a slight air of triumph she pulled it out before she looked at it. It wasn't the book she was looking for she noted as she turned it over in her fingers. She gently opened the cover and slammed it shut again as all of the blood drained from her face.

It was Harry's photo album. It was Harry's photo album and the very first picture was of Lily and James waving merrily out from the page with a baby Harry sandwiched between them. As much as Hermione wanted to she couldn't stop herself from wanting to see more of the book. Drawing her knees up to her chest she flicked to the back of the book where the more recent pictures would undoubtedly be. As soon as she open the page she froze in place. The sight that greeted her both broke her heart and filled her with inexpressible joy at the same time.

The setting was gloomy and slightly oppressive as the picture was taken in the drawing room of Grimmauld Place but the people in the picture where anything but. Staring up at her were the entire Order of the Phoenix just as they were in her fifth year; untouched by death. She almost gave a watery laugh as she saw Tonks change her hair at least a dozen times in one minute, all the while sneaking covert looks at Lupin. Remus was staring sagely out of the picture with a small amused smile playing around his lips as he watched Sirius who was being severely reprimanded by Mad Eye. _It was so strange _thought Hermione _to be so close to some people in the image yet at the same time so very far_.

As if of their own accord her fingers reached out to the photo and stroked the faces she saw there wistfully, all the while wishing that, as if by some miracle she could fall through the picture and be with all of the people she missed so very much.

Hermione didn't know how long she sat there for staring at the photo but it was long enough that she didn't see the portrait entrance open and a hoard of people fall thought it, some of them who made a beeline straight for her and Remus.

…

A/N- Another chapter done and I hope you like it! Nothing means more to me than your opinions and I would love to take prompts and ideas so if you come up with anything or have questions drop me a line and I promise to reply, also what do you think of so many points of view? Good or Bad? Review! Best wishes- VE


	7. Chapter 7

_It was so strange thought Hermione to be so close to some people in the image yet at the same time so very far._

_As if of their own accord her fingers reached out to the photo and stroked the faces she saw there wistfully, all the while wishing that, as if by some miracle she could fall through the picture and be with all of the people she missed so very much._

_Hermione didn't know how long she sat there for staring at the photo but it was long enough that she didn't see the portrait entrance open and a hoard of people fall thought it, some of them who made a beeline straight for her and Remus. _

"Whatcha doing?"

The voice from behind her made Hermione jump in her seat and she tried to hide her wince at the pain that brought. Turning to the place where the voice had come from she twisted in her seat to look over her shoulder while trying to surreptitiously use her body to block the photo album from sight. She looked up and saw the curious face of Sirius as he tried to look over her shoulder to what see what she was hiding.

"Nothing!" Hermione said too quickly to sound entirely believable , "Just a book." She made sure the album was closed and put it in her bag cringing at the heavy thunk it made which caused her to be the subject of strange glances from those around her. "Extension charm." She muttered feeling her face grow warmer.

Gradually the conversation around her turned into amicable bickering and she was left on the sidelines with a slight smile almost alighting on her face. She was lulled by the comforting familiarity of the arguing that she didn't notice when they all stared expectantly at her. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked trying to mentally shake herself from her stupor.

" We asked what you've got next." Said James looking her up and down slightly with a small frown marring his face, "Are you sure you're up for it? You look kind of tired."

Trying not to bristle at his last comment Hermione put her beaded bag into one of the pockets of her robes and sought after her timetable. Casting her eyes down at the piece of paper she skimmed the list of subjects until she found the right one. " Double charms." She said with a slight smile in her voice at the thought of the subject. Although it pained her to admit it, James was right, she _was _tired and it sent a trickle of relief through her at the thought of sitting in a lesson that she was competent enough in to not have to do any particularly taxing work.

"Lily's got charms I think, she can show you where it is."

Nodding her head in thanks Hermione heaved herself from the chair that she hadn't realised until now was extremely warm and comfortable and reached for her cane which was propped up beside her and made her way to find Lily.

~o~o~o~

As Lily walked back to the common room after charms she made light conversation with both Hermione and Dorcus both of whom seemed to getting along, but she couldn't help ponder what she had seen in the lesson just gone.

She supposed that Hermione must have a brilliant mind because the whole way through the lesson as far as Lily could tell she hadn't listened to a single word of lecture that had been aimed at them but at the end of it she had just asked what spell they had been told to practise and had executed it perfectly on her first time.

Lily smiled slightly as she gave the password to the common room, it would be nice to have someone to talk to who was just as academic as her.

As she and Dorcus made their way over to the fireplace to join the rest of their group of friends Lily noticed Hermione hang back a little. Smiling encouragingly Lily waved her over to come joining and feeling glad when she did so.

~o~o~o~

When Hermione sat herself among the group of girls, she braced herself mentally. She knew at some point she was going to have to introduce herself to them considering that she would be sharing a dorm with them but did it have to be when all she wanted to do was curl under the covers of her bed and pretend that everything was completely normal?

Hermione didn't notice the openly curious stares that were being sent her way by the two girls she sat with but Lily clearly did as she began with the introductions.

"Right, everyone this is Hermione, Hermione this is Alice," she said motioning a girl who sat to the right of Hermione.

Hermione felt her face freeze when she took in the girl sitting next to her. She had dark brown hair that seemed to have a mind of its own, pale skin, deep brown eyes that were crinkled as she smiled and a round and pretty face.

She was so obviously Neville Longbottom's mother and yet the contrast was truly terrible to the shrivelled shell of a woman whom Hermione had met on the wards of St. Mungo's.

"Alice Prewett." Said the girl with a smile and an outstretched hand. Hermione took the proffered hand with a small fixed smile.

"This is Marlene McKinnon," Continued Lily as she gestured to the blonde who sat across from her. Hermione reached across and shook her hand, a little surprised at the tight grip the girl had as she extracted her own hand,

"and you already know Dorcus."

Hermione smiled at the girl who sat the other side of Lily. Hermione had barely noticed what she had looked like earlier but now that she actually looked at her she realized she had a very unusual face. High cheek bones, expressive eyes, a slightly wide mouth, and a fringe that almost covered her eyes which made her keep flicking it out of the way made Hermione feel like she had seen her before. It took her a minute to remember but she had definatly seen her. It came to her all of a sudden where she had seen her before. It had been in the old photo of the order that Moody had shown Harry, she had looked at it after both of them had left it but she didn't know any of their names. _Well,_ she thought, _I do now._

Later in the evening Hermione couldn't help but smile at the way their conversation seemed to expand effortlessly to include her. Lily must have told them her cover story because none of them quizzed her about her past or brought any subjects that may have led to such a topic.

It only at half past eight that Hermione caught sight of the clock over the mantle and a slight shock over came her. She had spent about three hours talking with people and she hadn't let slip of her circumstances. It was then she bid them goodnight with a lighter heart as she thought she might be able to do this until she got back without making anybody too suspicious.

However, she hadn't forgotten where she was. There were some things she had to do and it would best if no one were to see it. When she finally reached the end of her perilous journey up the stairs she entered her dorm.

It was exactly as it had been in her time which brought a wry smile to her face except for the decorations around the four poster beds. Hermione supposed that the bed at the far end of the room with the empty looking wall space around it must be hers. She looked over the trunk at the bottom of her bed in mind surprise; she hadn't been expecting to find anything like that.

As she opened it she cast her eyes over the essentials that had been allocated to her: parchment, quills, potion ingredients, plain robes and what appeared to be a money bag with a note attached. Curious, she reached over and plucked the bag and the note and the bag from the rest of the contents of her trunk. Opening the strings of the bag Hermione felt her eyes pop a little. Inside she saw a good deal more galleons than she was used to seeing. Opening the letter with the curiosity now burning inside her she was confronted with a familiar form of hand,

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_As you may have noticed this trunk contains all of the basics that you will be needing to go though your life here at Hogwarts. The headmaster has enclosed money for the next Hogsmeade weekend for he feels that you will be needing to purchase normal day wear._

_The Headmaster has also seen fit to inform me of your … unusual predicament, I will not pretend that I was not shocked when I first learned of it but I can assure you that myself, Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey are the only ones who now of your circumstances and we all think that it would be a lot simpler if we continued to be the only ones to know._

_I hope you settle into life here in Hogwarts, but know that my door is always open,_

_Your sincerely _

_Prof. M. McGonagall _

Hermione closed the letter and placed it on her bedside table and sat on the edge of her bed. She sniffed, suddenly feeling quite tearful.

The letter had made it all seem real.

She supposed that she should have been indignant at Dumbledore telling someone of her secret, but in all honestly she was glad that she had one more person with whom she didn't have to keep up a constant charade.

Giving one more sniff she went over to her trunk and fastened it shut, there was another thing she had to do and she'd rather not be disturbed. Bringing out her beaded bag she climbed into the middle of her bed drawing the hangings around her. Lighting her wand she took a deep breath and prepared herself.

Herself, Harry and Ron at some point or other had had all of their worldly possessions in this one bag and while some things had been taken out none of it had ever been fully cleared. Opening the bag's clasp she overturned the entire thing before she could stop herself. The torrent of items that came pouring out quite surprised her. Most of the enormous pile of things now sitting on her bed comprised of books, which wasn't that shocking, given that she remembered putting them all in. Jumbled in with the books was a good deal of clothes, most of them being Harry's or Ron's but it was not that that caught her attention. Half hidden under one of Harry's socks sat an ancient looking piece of parchment.

Hermione reached over to it with no small amount of trepidation and pulled it out. The marauder's map. Hermione opened her mouth but no sound came out for a moment until the full irony hit her.

It was all she could do to keep upright as a hysteria settled upon her mind and all she could hear was her own strangled laughter.

~o~o~o~

Much to Lily's apparent disgust as soon as Hermione left her space was occupied by four boys…well, marauders. Dorcus couldn't help but wonder how much longer Lily could keep convincing herself that she was not completely in love with James Potter. She knew that Lily would deny it but James had matured a bit over the summer, not much, but just enough to stop him hexing random slytherins in the corridors and Dorcus knew that Lily had noticed. She just pretended she hadn't.

It was easy to see the cracks in her façade once you knew what to look for. Just a minute ago Dorcus had seen Lily sending covert looks at James when she knew that he wasn't looking and just after that she had _almost _called him James.

Okay, so maybe for a normal person this wouldn't exactly scream love, but Dorcus knew Lily better than anyone and loved her like a sister and as far as she was concerned this gave full permission to annoy the living crap out of her.

After one particularly awkward moment where James had actually managed to catch Lily's eye when she looked at him Dorcus caught her attention with a pointed look between her and James and a smirk in her direction. Lily immediately turned a bright enough red to match her hair and levelled a furious stare in her direction.

"Whoa! What's wrong with Lils?" Sirius and his ill timed comment managed to send Dorcus into a full laughing fit while Lily continued to glare at Dorcus and trying to silently convey the message to _shut up. _Sirius turned to look at the other boys who all looked just as bemused as him. "Did I say something-"

"Excuse me," everybody's heads snapped up at the interruption to see Nearly Headless Nick floating beside them, "but Madam Pomfrey is waiting outside the portrait hole, she said to send someone to let her in."

Dorcus looked back at the rest of the group and they, just like her, seemed to have no idea as to why the medi-witch would be here.

"I'll go!" came Lily's harried voice as she quickly bustled off glad to have a reason to hide her still glowing face.

It was a few minutes before she returned with a sombre expression on her face holding a rack full of vials. "They're for Hermione." Was the only explanation she gave to her curious friends as she walked past them heading for the girls staircase.

~o~o~o~

Hermione was half-way through repacking her books into her small bag when she heard someone creak open the door. Whirling around with her hand gripping her wand by her side she visibly relaxed when she saw Lily walk in with her arms full of potion vials. Lily walked forward and carefully placed the potions on the bedside table next to the letter from McGonagall before speaking,

"They're from Madam Pomfrey, you're supposed to take the blue one every four hours and the red one every six until you run out" she recited trying to remember everything, "Oh! And there's some dreamless sleep potion in there somewhere. This one I think." Lily pulled the vial out of the rack, uncorked it and sniffed it. She pulled a face as she replaced the stopper, "Yep, definatly that one."

"Thanks, I'll be needing that one later." Though the words were spoken lightly the unspoken meaning hung in the air between them.

Hermione continued to pack away as Lily caught sight of the multitude of books sprawled across her bed.

"Wow!" She breathed "Where did you get all of those?"

"I had them with me when I got here." Was Hermione's amused answer as she watched Lily all but fawn over her collection of book. When Lily raised her head in uncertainty; Hermione forgot that she had seen her arrive, she shook her small bag in answer of her unasked question, and then winced when she heard the unmistakeable sound of books toppling over. Lily grinned at use of such magic before her attention was recaptured; this time by the three stacks of clothing that Hermione had made on her bed.

Smiling she picked up what was obviously a man's orange jumper and held it up against herself before reading the team name off of the front .

"Chudley cannons fan, huh?"

Hermione froze as she looked up to see Lily holding what had been Ron's favourite jumper. Willing herself to remain stoic she looked down,

"Something like that, yeah." Trying finish packing the books as fast as she could Hermione managed to knock a book off of the edge of her bed. Gritting her teeth she tried to bend down to pick it back up but Lily got there first. Hermione didn't see the title of the book but she saw Lily quickly take a double glance at it and then look up at her in shock.

"Well don't forget to take you potions, bye!" With that Lily all but ran out of the room leaving a very confused Hermione standing in her wake. Glancing down Hermione groaned when she saw the book which Lily had seen _Secrets of the Darkest Art. _That was all she needed, the people around her all thinking that she was a death eater. Perfect.

Hermione sank down onto her bed; all of her energy suddenly vanished.

Lethargically she got changed into her pyjamas and swept all of her carefully arranged piles into her bag, not caring that they would be just as a convoluted mess as when she started. She sank into the bed, wrapped herself up with the covers and brought the vial of dreamless sleep potion to her lips.

But she stopped.

Quickly she grabbed the beaded bag from her headrest and smiled slightly as she found what she was looking for.

As she lay in bed afterwards with the comforting smell of the Chudley cannon jumper surrounding her she contemplated on whether she needed to take the sleeping potion; it was a quickly won argument.

She remembered all too well how Harry would look when he woke up with a haunted look in his eyes.

She controlled what she thought about when awake, she could push the horrors her mind insisted she dwell upon out of her thoughts while she was awake but when asleep… well she didn't need to be dealing with lack of sleep on top of everything else that was making her life seem like something from a nightmare.

….

A/N- Well thanks once again for reading, I apologize for my absence but don't worry; I won' make you sit through list of excuses. On a different subject, I would really like suggestions or ideas for future chapters, 'cause I'm in this for the long haul. Review and make my day? Merry Christmas - VE


	8. Chapter 8

_As she lay in bed afterwards with the comforting smell of the Chudley cannon jumper surrounding her she contemplated on whether she needed to take the sleeping potion; it was a quickly won argument._

_She remembered all too well how Harry would look when he woke up with a haunted look in his eyes. _

_She controlled what she thought about when awake, she could push the horrors her mind insisted she dwell upon out of her thoughts while she was awake but when asleep__…__ well she didn__'__t need to be dealing with lack of sleep on top of everything else that was making her life seem like something from a nightmare._

The sleeping draught Hermione had taken the night before obviously wore out quite early in the morning because after tossing and turning for the better part of an hour she gave up on her futile effort of sleep and rose well before the other peacefully resting girls. Hermione gently swung her legs off of her bed, subconsciously rubbing her hand that was still encased it bandages.

It hadn't hurt the night before but a dull ache seemed to have settled into the very bones of her hand. She dismissed it without another thought, after what she had been through she was lucky that she was still in a position where she could feel pain.

Mindful to be silent Hermione crept over to the other side of the room with both her normal school bag and her beaded one that she carried everywhere.

Heading into the common room she made her way over to the dying fire and settled there in a armchair, her eye catching on the face of the clock that sat upon the mantle; five thirty am. If the barren common room was anything to go by then she was the only one awake in the Gryffindor tower, or at least the only one out of bed.

After a few more minutes of staring aimlessly and letting her mind unfocus she was suddenly brought back to her wits. Hermione could hear what was obviously a heated argument outside the common room door, she couldn't hear the nature of the dispute due to it was all conducted in whispers.

Sinking lower into her chair in an effort to appear less conspicuous Hermione gripped her wand tightly and aimed it at the door with a steady hand. The portrait suddenly swung open to reveal three figures who all bundled into the room quickly and shut the door behind them. It was immediately apparent that all was not well from their conversation which could now be heard and from the fact that Hermione could clearly see that one person of the group was being heavily supported by the other two.

"- Well we can't very take him down to the Hospital wing now can we?" Said the person, who seemed to be taking most of the weight from the person in the middle, with a hiss. Peering closer at the source of the voice Hermione wasn't overly surprised to see James Potter who continued to be ignorant of her presence

"Why not?" Said the person on the other side from James, who upon further inspection transpired to be Peter. He had given up trying to support the person in middle of their huddle and now just stood there wringing his hands worriedly, "You could make up some lie about what happened and-"

"For gods sake, she's not stupid Peter! If we drag him down there now with his back all ripped to shreds with us looking like we've been dragged through a hedge backwards she'll figure something out! Especially if it's at the same time Remus is there-"

"Guys, really I'm fine," interrupted a new but very weak voice from the centre of the trio. From the way the light was cast in the room Hermione couldn't see his face but it was obvious from his company and voice that it was Sirius, "just put me upstairs and I'll say I'm ill for tomorrow."

"Sirius, if you say you're ill they'll send Madam Pomfrey up to see you." There was no answer from Sirius apart from an unintelligible mumble as he continued to lean on James to remain upright.

"James, we have to take him down! I mean what else can we do? What are we going to-"

Peter's voice which had steadily been rising in panic had become too much for Hermione's nerves so apprehensively she cleared her throat and rose from her chair leaning on her cane.

"Or you could bring him over here," she began quietly allowing a small smirk to form on her face when they all jumped at the sound of her voice, "and I could take a look at him."

Without further questioning Peter seized Sirius's other limp arm and helped James drag him over to Hermione and lay him carefully on a nearby sofa on his front. Hermione made her way over to him unsteadily and took a good look at his wound. James had been exaggerating when he said that Sirius's back had been 'ripped to shreds' but there were several long deep gashes that ran the length of his back. Hermione couldn't help but notice that they were the exact shape that the claws of a large animal; say a werewolf, would make if given half a chance.

Carefully, Hermione began to pull the blood soaked material of his robes away from the cuts, softly apologizing at his sharp intake of breath. With James hovering over her shoulder she fumbled in her robes for her small bag. When she had she quickly began to rummage within its contents looking for an item she did not remember seeing earlier when she had repacked the bag put she knew it to be in there, seeing James's face grow more worried by the second she eventually gave up, instead pointing her wand inside the bag and whispering "Accio dittany!" She caught the small bottle of liquid as it flew out of her bag and quickly unstopped it with her teeth. She went to proceed to heal Sirius but quicker than her eyes could follow James's hand came from nowhere and held her wrist tightly.

"What is that?" His voice carried only concern for his friend but Hermione soured at the insinuation of distrust in her. She knew that she hadn't yet given him a reason for her to trust him but that didn't mean she was going to try to poison his best friend at the first opportunity.

"Dittany." Was her short answer that seemed to put Peter and James more on edge.

"What will it do?"

"It's dittany what do you think it'll do?" Hermione's question met with two blank stares. "It'll heal him… if I can actually get round to doing it." She added with a pointed stare at James's hand which was still wrapped around her wrist, hastily he released her but continued to hover above her.

Being very watchful of the amount, Hermione tricked a tiny stream of the dittany onto the lacerations on Sirius's back. She couldn't hold back a small smile that worked it's way onto her face when she saw the healing begin to take place and after a few seconds all that was left of the early mourning drama were the faint lines of scars that looked like they could have been there for years. Straightening out her back she stood straight and looked at James and Peter.

"He'll be fine," she said practically feeling the relief that was coming off James in waves, "who knows? Maybe he'll even be well enough for classes."

At this James let out a small laugh which was echoed by Peter.

"Not bloody likely." The three of them looked down to where Sirius was laying with his eyes still closed though a smile played about his lips. As they watched he pushed himself into a seated position and smiled at them.

"Right well I'm off to bed for a bit. Oh, and thank you." This last part was directed at Hermione who was nestled back into her chair with her legs tucked underneath her, she inclined her head and smiled in acknowledgement. Sirius made his way back up the stairs with Peter following behind both of them looking dead on their feet. Only James remained behind, looking at Hermione expectantly. Sighing she met his eyes,

"What?" James's expression went from expectant to confused in a second.

"Aren't you going to ask me what happened?" He asked looking at her with obvious curiosity.

Hermione felt a wry smile form on her face "If I did would you tell me?"

"Of course I'd tell you-"

"The truth?" It was quite amusing for Hermione to watch James try and lie, he was struggling to look her in the eye when he talked and was in fact almost as a bad a liar as Harry was.

"Well, maybe not the _entire_ truth-"

"It's ok," she said with her mirth clear in her voice, " I don't particularly want to know." Of course this statement was completely redundant considering she already knew but she had only just arrived at the castle and she knew that they didn't trust her enough by any stretch of the imagination to tell her what they did on the nights of the full moon.

"What," James said with confusion etched on his face, "how could you not want to know?"

"I'll let you keep your secrets if you let me keep mine." Said Hermione evenly looking James straight in the eye.

She was a little bit shocked at the way his face darkened at this, almost the same way it had when she had gone to use the dittany the first time. Feeling her eyebrows pull together in confusion she couldn't hold it in any longer

"What did you think I was going to do Sirius when you grabbed my wrist?"

There was no answer from James as he continued to scrutinise her as though searching for the right words,

"Lily said you had some sort of book that-" He broke off when he saw Hermione grimace.

Seizing her chance she spoke before he could tell her what sort of book Lily had told him about. As if she didn't already know the answer.

"I was on the run from Voldemort," Hermione had to restrain herself from an eye roll at James's flinch, "I wouldn't use any of the magic in there, but it always helps to now what you're up against." Though the sentence had started normally her voice had dropped to almost a whisper by the end of it.

James's face had morphed into one of understanding and apology and he walked past her with out another word only hesitating to pat her gently on her shoulder.

Hermione felt oddly drained at this new turn of events and it seemed there was nothing left for her to do. It was almost nice in a way to help out the boys if it kept her mind off of the future though she felt for Remus who was probably still unconscious in the Hospital Wing from his self inflicted wounds. Thinking of Remus an impossible thought entered her head. What if she could help him? In the extensive library of books that she had in her possession she knew at east one of them would give a detailed description on how to make wolfsbane. As she refined her plan in her head she realised that that it wasn't impossible at all. She didn't know yet if she could alter the future and it would take serious thinking and intense theorising before she even attempted it but this she could do. She had always hated to see Remus suffering after the full moon at Grimmauld Place; it seemed so unfair that after so much prejudice and pain he would have to suffer only to see what little health he had managed to gain over the month torn away from him at the next full moon.

With a renewed vigour that only finding a purpose can instate she began rifling through her bags looking for books that might help her.

~o~o~o~

Over the next few days people seemed to accept that Hermione wasn't a very outgoing person. She was polite when spoken to and she still hung around with the girls in her dorm but it was like she was constantly preoccupied and in those rare moments when she wasn't obviously thinking about something else she just seemed to… stop. Every morning she would wake earlier than everyone else and sit in the common room with her head buried in some book and when anyone of the girls spoke to her they would talk and laugh but there was still something subtly off about her. Whenever she laughed or joked her responses and retorts seemed generic.

As Dorcas sat carefully watching the girl who no one knew anything about yet they all presumed to call her 'friend' she realised what it was about her that seemed so out of balance.

They had yet to see any evidence of an actual personality. All they knew was that she was extremely bright, this much was obvious from her classes as she had yet to receive less than an O but seldom volunteered any information and that she had a very turbulent back ground. This wasn't enough to say that you truly knew a person Dorcas decided.

However, there were slip ups, moments when she would forget herself and say something sharp or witty. Dorcas kept meaning to talk to her alone but whenever she tried Hermione managed to uncannily include herself into a group conversation or when she went to bed at night she had usually taken some of her supply of dreamless sleep potion. None of the others apart from maybe Lily gave any indication of noticing that Hermione had now become included in their group of friend without any of them knowing almost anything personal about her. It wasn't that Dorcas had a problem with Hermione it was just that she found it strange that someone would choose to be that bland.

~o~o~o~

For Hermione life had long since become monotonous but she had soon discovered that having a goal or a purpose certainly passed the time along. Every morning she would wake up much earlier than the other girls and find herself with very little to do for the remaining two hours that she had at her disposal. At first she searched both her own books and the library for information that may help her to return to her own time; she had found several promising leads in many books but it was the enormity of the task of searching through all of them that seemed to put her off slightly. She still carried on looking but for the past few days she had found herself paying more and more attention to the batch of wolfsbane she was attempting to brew. It was incredibly precise work but Hermione just reminded herself that , with any luck, the end result would be worth it. At first it had been a problem trying to find a place where she could work without any suspicion or distractions arriving but it had taken her all of two minutes to find the perfect solution. The girls bathroom. Hermione had debated about using the room of requirement but it was much more convenient for her to be able to pop into the toilets between classes and check on the potion. She had, of course, remembered the place she had first decided to brew a slightly questionable potion and despite the fact that Myrtle seemed to take pleasure in annoying her to the point where she wanted to pull out her own hair, so far it was proving to be a good place. As of yet, no one had noticed that she seemed to disappear on a regular basis and Hermione was grateful to that. She attributed it mostly to the fact that while she had been accepted into the groups of friends she offered no information about herself, nothing interesting to talk about and no specific opinions or interests. In short she was acting like the most boring person in history and although sometimes she literally had to bite her tongue to stop herself from adding to a conversation it had obviously paid off if no one even noticed her absence.

As she left the bathroom after a particularly trying session with Myrtle being intent on driving her insane she made her way back up to the common room barely using her cane at all, which was both surprising and immensely pleasing to her. She was all set to just walk up the stairs and collapse on her bed when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. Mildly surprised because as far as she was aware she had given no on a reason to single her out she turned around. Her questioning gaze landed upon the sight of Sirius standing there looking oddly out of place and slightly uncomfortable.

~o~o~o~

Sirius had kept meaning to talk to Hermione after she had healed him but it was very rare for him to see her never mind catch her on her own. He had seen his opportunity when she had walked through the common room looking tired but for some odd reason extremely pleased with herself. He leapt up from the chair he had been sitting and walked over to tap her on the shoulder. He frowned slightly when she visible started at his touch but resigned himself to what he was going to have to say.

"I can't remember if I said it the other night, I was a bit out of it but,… thank you." His words came out a bit rushed but he could tell that she had understood them.

"Well, you're welcome." She said shortly and started to turn away. This confused Sirius further, not only was she not trying to get him to tell her what had happened but she seemed completely disinterested.

"Wait,…that's it?" He asked incredulously, "You're not going to even ask what happened?" This caused Hermione to turn around and meet his eyes, and for the first time since he had seen her he properly look at her. She was quite pretty he supposed but she seemed slightly pale and drawn, the same sort of pale Lily had looked the week before the OWL exams in fifth year when she had basically camped in the library before her friends staged an intervention. As he watched she seem to draw up to her full height, which almost made him laugh seeing as she was so much shorter than himself,

"Does my lack of curiosity irritate you?" She asked cagily.

"No, I just wasn't expecting it is all." He said with a winning smile. A winning smile to which she didn't even blink.

"Goodnight Sirius." With that Hermione turned and walked up to her room her mind only on her bed.

~o~o~o~

When Hermione was finally climbing into her bed after a day that had seemed to last an age she reached towards her bedside table with her only intent to be to find her potion and settle down for a night of restless sleep. When she didn't grasp the vial she was looking for she raised herself to look properly at her bedside table. All she saw were empty vials where her potion should be. Her head fell back to her pillow as she found herself unable to even contemplating getting out of bed let alone trying to find some more dreamless sleep potion. She closed her eyes and could not even find it within herself to fear the dreams that were sure to come.

…

A/N- Thank you once again for reading. Chapter was up fairly quickly because of the extra time from the holidays . Hope you like it and if you do I've just posted a new fic "The Life Of A Godfather" all about moments from the lives of Harry and Teddy. Suggestions welcome and thank you for bearing with me so far, reviews are loved-VE


	9. Chapter 9

_All she saw were empty vials where her potion should be. Her head fell back to her pillow as she found herself unable to even contemplating getting out of bed let alone trying to find some more dreamless sleep potion. She closed her eyes and could not even find it within herself to fear the dreams that were sure to come._

_Hermione found herself standing outside the entrance of Hogwarts. At first she found it hard to be sure it was indeed Hogwarts for it looked more like an ancient ruin than her school. As she turned her back on the castle she found herself looking at the backs of what looked like half of the student population as well as some of the order members and she was sure she recognised some local shop owners from Hogsmeade. They all seemed to be focussed ahead, fixated at a sight it seemed. Unable to see through the throngs of survivors she tried to sidle her way to the front of the crowd, only dimly registering the faces of her friends and what had come to be her family. Despite how thick the crowds were, in her dream state she seemed to pass through them unnoticed apart from the occasional shiver people would give when she inadvertently brushed against them. _

_When she reached the front of the crowd she felt her legs almost give out from pure fear and shock at the unexpected sight that came before her. _

_Standing before her was army far vaster than the one behind her headed by the terrifying figure of Voldemort himself._

_Just like it felt like she wasn't really there Hermione found it harder to see and hear in this state. She forced herself to look past Voldemort and was shocked and horrified to see the familiar figure of Hagrid boxed in by the menacing figures of jeering death eaters. Looking at the people next to her to she felt a ache at her heart when she saw Ginny who looked distraught with dirt and blood covering her face, but she followed her eye line and curiously she too was staring at Hagrid or the bulky bundle he was carrying and so it seemed were many people around her._

"_NO!" _

_Hermione's head whipped around and was stunned when she saw Professor McGonagall standing there with her eyes wide in disbelief as she gazed at Hagrid who was shaking in apparent sobs._

_Squinting and desperately trying to see what Hagrid could possibly be carrying without having to step into the No Mans Land between the two armies, Hermione didn't notice the gathering crowd behind her._

_She was just beginning to make out a shape in Hagrid's arms when the cries of those behind her made her blood run cold._

"_No!"_

"_Harry! HARRY!"_

_The last cry came from Ginny who stood beside her, she looked so broken that even through her shock she tried to put her arm around her. Ginny gave no sign of noticing this empty gesture of comfort._

_The noise around her seemed to dim even more as she clearly saw her best friend and for all intents and purposes her brother laying deathly still with his head lolled backwards and his glasses hanging off of his face at a lopsided angle. She was quickly brought back to her senses however when one voice roared above all of the others._

"_SILENCE!" The proclamation was followed by a bang and a silence was imposed upon the crowd behind her like a suffocating blanket as they fell silently immediately._

"Hermione, wake up."

"_It is over!" Shouted Voldemort with undisguised malicious glee in his voice, "Set him down Hagrid, at my feet where he belongs!"_

_Hermione could no longer control her body as she felt herself shaking uncontrollably from the dual mixture of the deepest grief of losing her last remaining true friend and the burning desire for revenge, not just for Harry but for everyone Voldemort had ever killed. She felt the revulsion for what Voldemort had done build up in her throat like bile when she saw Hagrid _

"Hermione! Wake up!"

_who was shaking with enormous sobs that racked his entire body lay Harry down gently on the grass by Voldemort._

"_You see?" said Voldemort who had began pacing as gloated over his victory over the conquered, "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!" _

_Hermione now felt her anger overtake her grief as she watched as Voldemort gloried in what was so obviously a lie of enormous magnitude. She looked sideways at Ginny and saw that she too had a murderous glint in her eye._

"WAKE UP!"

_The silencing charm Voldemort had placed over the fighters behind her suddenly broke and for a second screams could be heard along with the insults that were hurled at the death eaters before Voldemort replaced the spell with a more powerful one._

"It's not working. Stand back."

"_He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," said Voldemort with his relish in the lie all too apparent in his voice, "killed while trying to save himself-"_

"AGUAMENTI!"

With a sensation similar to using a portkey Hermione was cruelly yanked back into reality. The first thing she saw was all of the girls in her dorm wearing the same expression of worry. Lily stood closest with her wand still drawn. Hermione barely had time to register that both her and her bed sheets were soaking wet from Lily's charm before she twisted her body and threw up over the side of her bed. As she rolled back she saw all of the girls looking at her in horror and what was obviously varying depths of concern. Lily moved so quickly that Hermione had trouble discerning her movement. In one fluid motion she had vanished the sick, hauled Hermione out of her bed and slung one of her arms around her shoulders. Dorcas, seeing what she was doing quickly grabbed her other arm and together they half carried and half dragged Hermione to the common room. When they got there both of them paused a minute unsure of what to do. Hermione was still a deathly pale and her eyes were only half open and kept fluttering as though she were about to have a fit.

"You need to take her to the hospital wing." Both girls looked around to see to their surprise Remus coming down the stairs hastily pulling a jumper on and following him Sirius wearing only pyjama pants and a loose t-shirt that he had obviously grabbed in haste. Seeing the girls struggle under Hermione's dead weight Sirius ran forward and grabbed her, steadying her on her feet. Remus then took her other arm and all four of them were soon making their way to the hospital wing. Hermione was still conscious and tried to get away from them feebly but one growl from Sirius and she tried to carry on walking though her feet dragged on the floor. With a sigh Sirius put an arm around her back and one behind her knees and was soon carrying her on their way.

" How did you know something was happening?" Asked Lily from the back of the group. At this Sirius looked at Remus who stared straight ahead as he answered.

"I could hear her screaming through the walls. I ran out the room but woke Sirius so we both came to see what happened." Lily didn't push the subject as she knew how it was that Remus could hear Hermione scream through a solid stone wall and knew he wouldn't appreciate her bring up his werewolf enhanced senses.

They walked as fast as they could to the Hospital wing until Sirius stumbled slightly on the foot of a suit of armour. Careful not to drop the girl he was holding he looked down on her to see her eyes brighten slightly in awareness.

And then she screamed.

~o~o~o~

Hermione hadn't been awake the whole time they were walking to the Hospital Wing. Not really. Her eyes were open and she could see the familiar corridors pass her by but her mind wasn't there. All she could think about was her dream. Except in her heart she knew that it was real. There was something about it which told Hermione that she really had just witnessed Harry be carried back to Hogwarts as a body and this had sent her mind into shock. Her last remaining friend, the link she had clung onto in her hope of returning to her own time she had just seen as a corpse. She knew this would be the fatal blow to the war. Voldemort would win and everyone she loved would be forced to either die or live though a fate worse than death. She remembered seeing Ginny's face. A friend whom she had loved so much torn apart by death. This only strengthened her resolve to return back to her own time. She would be there for everyone she loved and then she would hunt. She would hunt down Voldemort and all of his cowardly little followers to the ends of the Earth and then she would kill them. All of them.

She was brought out of her silent vows of revenge as she stumbled slightly. Or more accurately the person carrying her stumbled. She tried not to show it but she was panicking, she couldn't remember where she was or who she was with, her mind seemed to stuck on what she had just seen to process anything else. Rolling her eyes upwards she saw an unfamiliar face. Panic set in and she screamed. Rolling away from her captor who let her go in surprise she hit the floor hard and used her legs to scrabble backwards until she felt the cold wall pressed into her back and she began to sob.

~o~o~o~

Dorcas wasn't completely sure how she had managed it but somehow Hermione had managed to roll away from Sirius who had let her in his surprise and back herself against a wall when she let out a strangled and choked sob. Hurrying forwards when she saw no one else was she crouched down beside the hysterical girl and tried to calm her. At first her attempts seemed to do nothing but eventually she managed to calm Hermione to the point where she wasn't actually crying and was not shaking half so much anymore. She looked around and saw that Lily had crouched down beside and looked unsure as of what she could do to help.

"Come on we need to get you to the Hospital Wing."

Hermione just shook her head slightly and continued to take deep shuddering breaths as she tried to calm herself. Hesitantly as though scared he might spook her again Sirius joined the girls kneeling beside her and spoke gently,

"Hermione, we need to get you to the Hospital Wing, can you walk or do you want me to carry you?"

Both Lily and Dorcas turned to look at Sirius in surprise having never heard him talk so gently to another person before.

When Hermione spoke it was a shock to all of them.

~o~o~o~

All that Hermione wanted to do in the world was curl up and be left alone. In the back of her mind she dimly registered the others trying to calm her and she watched as Sirius leant down to talk to her, something about going to the Hospital Wing?

It was at this point that Hermione's mind seemed to become decided as to a course of action.

She would block out what she had seen in her dream until she was alone and strong enough to deal with it, in the meantime she would act completely normal and perhaps a little less bland. She would continue to try and return to her own time and carry on with her schoolwork and the brewing of the wolfsbane potion. All she had to do for all of this to work was to convince the others that she was fine.

Taking a deep breathe she prepared to lie though her teeth, " I'm fine, honestly, just a bad dream is all. Sorry about dragging you all out of bed, shall we head back?" She said quickly as she tried to raise herself off of the ground.

"Sit down," came Lily's gentle but insistent voice, "What happened?"

"Just a nightmare," fibbed Hermione deciding to neglect the fact that what she had seen was anything but her own minds creation "All I want is to go back to bed." With that she promptly pushed herself up from the floor into a standing position and despite all she had seen that night she felt a tiny shoot of pride at being able to stand unaided by her cane.

No sooner had she thought this than she began to tumble to one side.

Her hand shot out and grabbed onto the wall in an effort to stay upright and with absolutely no warning pain consumed her hand. It was worse than anything she had felt before, even the crutiatus curse. It seemed like her very flesh was searing away from the bone and yet there was something vaguely reminiscent of the dull ache she experience every morning when she woke up. She instinctively doubled over and cried out earning her the attention of all of her company.

Without waiting for any sign of approval Sirius had seized her and began to make his way to the Hospital Wing as fast as he could.

~o~o~o~

When Madam Pomfrey first set eyes upon Hermione she knew immediately something was wrong. The girl was a type of pale that usually meant blood loss and she was barely clinging on to consciousness, her eyes closed but muttering under her breath.

However, the strangest thing occurred when the Healer managed to push past the other four students that crowded around her bed and finally take a look at the fevered girl she stopped. Her incessant murmurings stopped and colour flooded to her cheeks making her look to all the world like a student who was happily asleep. All eyes turned to the healer hoping that she would have the answers but her stare was just as blank as theirs.

"All of you," she managed to say past frozen lips, " back to bed." Her words were met with immediate protest from the four students all of whom were still crammed around Hermione's sick bed. Recognizing defeat she sighed, "Fine! Lupin, Black fetch Professor Dumbledore and girls you may stay if you wish."

Dorcas was the first to move as she edged to take the seat beside the bed, Lily was close to follow as she perched cautiously on the edge of the hospital bed and the boys soon followed as they ran for the headmaster.

Almost unconsciously Lily reached to take Hermione's hand as she would do with any one else who lay ill on a hospital bed. No sooner had she touched the girls hand that she recoiled, clutching her own hand to her chest.

"Madam Pomfrey!" She shouted across the ward to the healer who was making what looked like an extremely complex healing potion in rather a hurry, "Quick! There's something wrong with her!"

~o~o~o~

_Once more Hermione found her senses both ensnared and obscured by the thick permeating fog that seemed to pervade her and everything around her. _

_However, slowly the mist thinned and a scene before her became apparent. The sound of the raging battle was clearer than it had been in her last encounter but still muffled. As Hermione looked around at the friends and foes fighting around her she realised that this must have been the final legs of the battle for out of those who fought most looked tired and injured but determined with fire still burning in their eyes._

_As she spun trying to take in everything she saw Voldemort duelling Kingsley, McGonagall and Slughorn all at the same time looking as though he were in his element. It looked like he was playing a game with them the same way a cat would play with a mouse. Both members of the Order and Slughorn duelled their hardest but Voldemort's skill surpassed their own. In the background Hermione registered that several of the duels and skirmishes had come to end and the survivors were making wide arc around Voldemort and his opponents as they watched in an edgy silence. _

_As Hermione looked on Voldemort seemed to lose interest in the people in front of him and with a almost casual flick of his wand he sent them all flailing backwards though the air. _

_Although the oldest McGonagall was the first one to recover, lifting her head off the ground she shakily stood up only to find herself at wand point. Voldemort looked down upon her as he prepared to end her life,_

"_AVADA-"_

"_Protego!"_

_Hermione recognized all too well that voice that had spoken the second spell. She could feel the hope rising in her chest even though she knew it was impossible for him to there; no magic can bring back the dead. _

_But as she watched she saw the boy-no, the man that she had come to love rid himself of his invisibility cloak in a way that was so achingly familiar to her. Her thoughts were drowned out by screams around her on all sides, _

"_Harry!"_

"_HE'S ALIVE!"_

_No sooner had they begun to make such a noise had it stopped. The whole crowd was afraid, for their future was to be decided in one final showdown. Harry was talking but Hermione didn't pick up on his words. She stood transfixed at the sight of him alive once more. _

_There was a calmness about him that he hadn't possessed the last time she had seen him, he looked confident as though he were in full control of the situation; it was a look she hadn't seen on him all too often._

_In the back of her mind she heard Harry tell the crowd that they should not interfere and tell Voldemort that he had intended to die for them tonight but hadn't and as a result they were all protected from Voldemort's spells. She listened to him talk and relished the sound of his voice; a sound she had been so sure she would never hear again._

_Harry and Voldemort were circling each other slowly, maintain a perfectly even distance between them. Even though she had not listened raptly to Harry's every word she heard one sentence that made her gasp in shock and her eyes widen,_

"_Snape's Patronus was a doe." Harry's words took a second to descend upon Hermione's mind and from then on she paid him her undivided attention as he explained how Snape had loved his mother, the pain the man had gone through and the risks he had taken. _

_The longer Harry spoke the more deranged Voldemort became and the livid expression on his face began to look permanent. _

_Hermione didn't notice at first but her surroundings were slowly become more indistinct and disjointed as she felt this reality begin to slip from her mind. She fought against it with all of the strength she had, she had made it this for and she would be damned if she didn't see Harry kill the bastard once and for all. Hermione clung onto Harry's words as her surroundings become even less distinguishable, the people in the crowd melding into the background and the colours around the edge of her vision blurred,_

"_Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master!"_

_Shock coursed though Hermione's veins. Snape hadn't murdered Dumbledore out of cold blood? All those months spent hating Snape and blaming their short comings upon him and he was only acting upon the old man's orders? She knew that he had taken risks playing a double agent but this was ludicrous!_

_Hermione fought against her mind once more as it tried to pull her back into the land of waking and tried to consolidate all of this new information at the same time. So much so in fact that she almost missed the climax of the confrontation but was brought out of her stupor by two yells,_

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

"_Expelliarmus!"_

_With a sound like a cannon blast the two spells met._

_Hermione stood there temporarily blinded by the sunlight of a new dawn that had crept through the high windows of the Great Hall. As her eyes adjusted she saw Harry standing alone with two wands as Tom Riddle fell._

_For a second there was silence. _

_Then with a deafening roar the crowd surged forward with screams, cheers and roars renting the air. Hermione screamed with them. She cheered and laughed and cried,, not caring that the scene was slowly melting away from her. Soon she could neither see nor hear the crowd of fighters that had defended Hogwarts, but it mattered not to her, she could feel the joy in her heart, the victory at having won-_

"I think she's awake! Hermione?"

Hermione opened her eyes to find to find six people all gathered around her sick bed. Their expressions held everything from fear to comprehension so she did the only thing that came naturally. She laughed, and soon she found she couldn't stop.

….

A/N- Ok, so not much happened but a crucial point in the story. I promise the next chapter will be up soon and will have the brothers Black, Snape, Potions, DADA and a not so depressed Hermione in it, reviews make my day and the take away so little of yours! Also most of the dream sequence is heavily based on the actual scenes in the book. I'd love to know what you think and will be happy to take suggestions or answer any questions, Happy new year!(a little belated but better late than never!)-V


	10. Chapter 10

"_I think she's awake! Hermione?"_

_Hermione opened her eyes to find to find six people all gathered around her sick bed. Their expressions held everything from fear to comprehension so she did the only thing that came naturally. She laughed, and soon she found she could't stop._

No sooner than Lily had shouted for the healer Madam Pomfrey was beside Hermione as she lay pale on the white sheets. So preoccupied was she with trying to get the girl to keep still so she could give her the freshly brewed potion that she did not notice the headmaster sweep into the hospital wing.

She did, however, notice when she finally managed to keep Hermione still enough to bring the vial of potion up to her lips and the headmaster plucked it from her hands. Furiously, she turned to look at him.

He stood with a calculating expression upon his face as he watched the girl thrash as she wrestled with her nightmares. Behind him stood Remus and Sirius both slightly pink in the face from there run to the headmasters office each with concern dominant on their faces. Lily looked at Hermione as she stood over her slightly, obviously wanting to help but with no idea how to and afraid she might do more damage than good. She made a small sound that sounded suspiciously like a sob as Hermione moved so suddenly and viciously that it looked as if she were in the throes of a seizure.

This small sound seemed to divert Dumbledore's attention from Hermione for a second. He looked at Lily but for a moment couldn't figure out what seemed to be amiss within his head. Then it clicked.

"Miss Evans," he said as she looked up startled, "might you tell me what happened to your hand?"

Lily looked down at her hand which she hadn't realised was still cradled to her chest. She looked around obviously looking to see whether anyone else understood the relevance of the question; seeing that everyone looked just as confused as she suspected she did she spoke,

"It happened just before Hermione got worse, sir." Lily said as she cast a look at the girl who seemed to have made it through the worst of her fit and was now tangled in her blankets as she stirred occasionally, "I touched her hand and … and it burnt me." she looked at Dumbledore as though she expected him to tell her she was wrong and was surprised to see him smiling slightly as though he had just peiced together a puzzle.

All other thoughts were driven from everybody's minds when Hermione took in a shuddering breath and stopped moving completely. Unconsciously, they all moved in towards her as they leaned over each other to see what was going to happen next.

Slowly they watched as she opened her eyes. She blinked once, twice and they could see her focus on the scene in front of her.

For a second there was silence; everyone watched in slight trepidation as a slight crease appeared on her forehead and she parted her lips slightly.

Then she laughed.

It came pouring out of her like a torrent as she laughed in such a way that could only be described as … _joyful._

~o~o~o~

Hermione soon quieted down until she was just smiling widely as she sat by herself on the bed and stared into space in a way that was highly reminiscent of Luna Lovegood.

It didn't take long for the headmaster to clear out the hospital wing of students, as she looked around and saw none of the faces of the people who she assumed brought her down to the hospital wing in the first place.

Hermione couldn't find it in herself to wonder about them as she sat alone with the knowledge that in her time at least Voldemort was no more. She couldn't wrap her head around it. Ever since she had first entered the wizarding world she had lived with the constant overshadowing threat of Voldemort hanging over her and her friends. But not anymore. He was finally gone.

_Dead._

Even when Dumbledore came and spoke to her she could barely force herself to pay attention. She told him about her dreams as she gloried in the feeling of weightlessness that seemed to inhabit her.

"Hermione, you might want to pay attention to this next part." Said the Headmaster with a slight chuckle.

Hermione flushed slightly, unused to being caught out for not listening. Sitting straight she gave her full attention to the matter at hand.

"As I was saying," said the headmaster, " Did you notice anything strange before you became ill?"

Hermione cast her mind back over the past few days but nothing immediately sprung to the forefront of her mind . Noticing her struggling Dumbledore elaborated, " Anything strange about your hand in particular?"

At this Hermione frowned slightly; her hand had been hurting whenever she awoke but she had just assumed that was a natural part of the healing process. But now that it was mentioned she was sure she could remember her hand burning before her dreams overtook her…Oh! Hermione's eyes widened as she realised what was going on.

Seeing her very obvious epiphany Dumbledore nodded.

"When you first travelled back in time you smashed the time turner with your hand, correct?" He said as she nodded, "Madam Pomfrey cleaned the cut but didn't manage to get everything before she healed it."

"I've got time sand in my hand haven't I?" She asked unsure of what this meant. Dumbledore nodded. "Is that what caused the dreams?"

"I believe so."

A thought occurred to Hermione, "If the sand's been in my hand the whole time why have the dreams only started now?"

Dumbledore looked over the top of his glasses as he surveyed her,

"You have been taking dreamless sleep potion, have you not?" He said as she nodded once more, " The most likely answer is that they dulled the dreams to the point where you could not remember them."

Hermione recalled the empty vials that had sat by her bedside earlier that night.

"So what does this mean then?"

Dumbledore looked at her with sadness etched across his features, "It means that eventually you will either return to your own time or you will say here. Permanently."

~o~o~o~

When the four Gryffindor students reached their common room they peeled off into their own dorms without a word all ready to snatch whatever sleep they could before breakfast began.

Needless to say that when the morning rolled around all of them made their way, bleary eyed, down to the Great Hall. They had explained the condensed version of the last night to the friends but left out the finer details for their own sake.

Lily was the first of the group to make it down for breakfast as she often was but froze for a second at the sight that met her. Sitting at the Gryffindor reading the newspaper and eating her breakfast was Hermione Granger.

Lily walked over to her cautiously before sitting next to her. When Hermione looked around at her, her surprise only increased. The girl Lily had seen writhing last night beamed at her as she took her place and immediately thanked her for helping her last night. Lily was just about to ask her; what had happened? Was she okay? Could she help at all?

The questioned burned on her mind but before she could ask they were joined by the rest of the girls from their dorm. Hermione managed to placate them all with a very vague story of a stomach bug that left only Lily and Dorcas unconvinced.

Halfway though breakfast the boys stumbled into the Great Hall with Remus and Sirius looking almost as tired as Lily felt.

Much to her surprise Hermione engaged them all in conversation before settling into a chat with Remus about the subjects he was taking. Evidently she was not the only one to notice the new change in Hermione as Dorcas too was staring at her with a puzzled expression.

However, before anymore could be said or thought breakfast was over and the seventh years all made their way to their first class of the day; potions.

~o~o~o~

Hermione was glad of the distraction of school work for the time being. It seemed like half of her new friends were tiptoeing around her lest they upset her and cause some sort of meltdown while most of the other half didn't know what to think of her ever since she had stopped being so painfully bland.

All in all she was glad to make her way into potions even if she did have to stand awkwardly at the front of the class before she could sit down. It was odd to see the potion master she had had in her sixth year so much younger but the only noticeable difference was the slightly lighter colour of his hair.

The next problem was being given the choice of where to sit n the class. There were only two seats free given that the term had already commenced. One was next to a slightly chubby blonde boy whose features appeared to be oddly familiar and the other next to a boy who although was much younger than Hermione had ever seen him was easily recognisable as Severus Snape.

It was no competition really, Hermione had pondered on Harry's revelation about Snape and from the stories that she'd heard between Harry and the Sirius from her time his time at school had been hard and for the most part friendless.

Hermione picked her way through the class, ignoring the frantic but silent warnings from Sirius and James in the back seats and took her seat next to Severus.

She sat down but received no reaction from him. It wasn't until they had started to brew their potions that she finally had enough of the silence and extended her hand to him,

"I don't think we've met, I'm Hermione."

Snape looked at her with a detached air seeming to scrutinise her. Slowly he raised his own hand,

"Severus Snape." He said quietly before releasing her hand quickly.

For the rest of the lesson they barely spoke but to talk about their portions until Sirius walked past. Hermione could tell from his innocent expression that he was planning something. He stopped at hers and Severus's table and leant across Severus's cauldron slightly on the pretence of asking Hermione a question about the quantity of beetle's eyes that were meant to have been used.

It was then that Hermione saw it; if she had blinked she would surely have missed it but quick as a flash something fell from Sirius hand and sunk to the bottom of Severus's cauldron.

Severus who had been collecting different types of roots from the store cupboard saw none of this and stood unsuspectingly in front of his potion leant over it so he could see it properly. It was then that Hermione grabbed a fistful his robes and yanked him backwards.

He turned to her indignantly but before any words came out of his mouth his potion turned into a lurid green and exploded onto where he would have been standing.

She could see from his face that Snape knew exactly who the culprit was and from the angry set of his jaw she could tell that he would dearly love to pay Sirius back in kind. It was then that inspiration struck, with a quick whispered " Stay here" to Severus which she highly doubted he heard over the sound of his own seething, she began to act. Swiftly, Hermione made her way over to store cupboard and before she could hesitate took a large handful of reddish brown powder that resided on the highest shelf. Steeling herself and forcing herself to act natural she made her way to the back of the class where Sirius was working on his own potion. She could feel Severus's eyes following her but paid him no attention. When she reached Sirius he looked up nodded to here and carried on working. Concealing her handful of dust she looked carefully at the instructions he was reading before taking a deep breath,

"What are you doing!" Hermione almost shrieked, " It says in the book to add _three_ unicorn tail hairs not _four_!"

As predicted Sirius immediately picked up the book and scanned it, unwilling for his work for past hour to be for nothing. With Sirius' attention diverted Hermione dumped her fistful of powder straight into the potion where it dissolved on impact.

"No it doesn't," said Sirius holding out the book for Hermione to see " _four unicorn tail hairs," _he read out, "see?"

Hermione pretended to quickly scan the book before widening her eyes in apparent realisation,

"Oh! Sorry my mistake." Hermione hurried back to chair quickly where she sat with her back to Sirius so he wouldn't see the grin that had spread across her face that would give her away instantly.

Severus sat down beside her and gave her a curious look but Hermione just shook her head. She counted down in her head how long the reaction should take_…_ _three…two…one… _BANG!

The whole class started and looked around wildly to see the source of the noise. The sight that met there eyes made even Slughorn crack a smile.

At the back of the classroom stood Sirius Black covered from the waist up in a thick purple slime that seemed to only vaguely resemble what he had been brewing moments before. To make the situation worse was that the potion hadn't been contained to him, beside Sirius stood James trying vainly to try and clean the gloop off of his glasses while Remus stood to his other side looking ready to commit murder as he wiped the potion off his face.

Hermione sat on her stool laughing along with the rest of the class when Severus looked over at her; instead of the usual scowl he wore both in her time and this, he was smiling.

~o~o~o~

After the fiasco that was double potions Hermione found herself walking to her Defence Against The Dark Arts class with Lily and Marlene enjoying their company as they chatted idly. When they reached the classroom there was no problem with seating as Marlene sat next to an empty seat which Hermione promptly took.

Their professor hadn't entered the class yet but from what she could gather their teacher was an ex-auror who seemed to harbour a penchant for strange lessons. The door opened and the murmurings of the class ceased for a second before continuing when the marauders walked in looking disgruntled but cleaner.

A few minutes later the professor walked in. Whatever Hermione had been expecting this certainly wasn't it. The professor walked in stopping in front of her desk to put down the armful of books she had been carrying before turning to face the class. She was quite a young woman maybe late thirties with brown hair that was held back in a messy bun. On her face sat large glasses that instead of making her look like a bug as they did Professor Trelawney in her time, the glasses gave her a look of shrewd intelligence.

However, the most striking thing about the new professor, in Hermione's opinion, was the ugly, puckered scar that ran the length of her face and down to her neck before it disappeared underneath the neck of her robes. It made Hermione feel uncomfortable looking at it, thinking about the amount of pain it must have caused.

The introductions of the lesson were quick and sharp much like the professor herself. In a matter of minutes Hermione knew what they had been studying, what they would be studying and what to expect in general. She had been told that the woman's name was Pallett and so with a muttered "Yes, Professor Pallett." Hermione took her seat and began to pay strict attention; she had missed her seventh year once and she didn't intend to waste this opportunity.

"Duelling!" Began the professor as she paced slowly at the front of the class, "An essential skill in this day and age, and one I shall be testing you on." Here Professor Pallett paused and looked around the room at the suddenly nervous faces, "You will break into pairs and I will assess your skills from there. Go!"

The teacher's proclamation left many scrambling to find their friends so as not to be paired off with someone else. It was at times like this Hermione wondered if it was really wise to put Slytherin and Gryffindor in a defence class together. Distaste would be running high and she was sure that injuries would be the result.

As she had pondered while everyone else had been finding a opponent she realised that she would have no choice in her partner, but as she saw who it was she relaxed slightly. She should have realised that Remus also would be left alone seeing as James and Sirius would undoubtedly pair up and Peter had no where near made the grade to take NEWT standard Defence Against The Dark Arts so she made her way over with a smile on her face.

As she prepared for her duel with Remus she found it strange to bow down to him as was the tradition in a duel. In her time anyone who bowed before a duel would have been dead before they had the time to stand back up.

She took her position opposite him with her wand raised; the professor yelled for everyone to begin when Remus dealt the first blow. Hermione raised a shield with no thought and a flick of her wand. It was elementary magic and yet she felt the strain on her mind as she began to analyse her situation.

Confused by her lack of retaliation but not about to throw the duel Remus proceeded to barrage her with spells, though none would have done her any harm; he was only aiming to disarm her.

Hermione stood her ground under the attack only defending but then Remus dropped his guard. It was only for a second, but it was enough.

With no thought and only pure instinct driving her on she disarmed him and sent him careening backwards. It took Hermione a second to work out why there were two wands in her hand but as her thoughts caught up with her actions she looked up horrified. Remus was laid out on the floor a few feet backwards to where he had been standing but even as she watched he stood and walked up to her,

"That was a good one!" He said taking his wand back from her with a laugh " I had no idea-"

"I'm so sorry." Hermione whispered her eyes still wide.

Remus looked confused for a second before speaking more gently towards her "I'm fine, honestly."

Hermione just shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut to try and stop the flow of the memories that were trying to invade her mind.

Remus laying dead on the floor inches from his dead wife.

Ron's face as he fell for the last time.

Harry's lifeless body being carried-

Strangely this last memory helped. She knew that Harry wasn't dead; he was her reason to keep soldiering onwards. Still as she looked at the concern in Remus's face she knew she had to get out of there. The duelling had brought back memories from when every duel had been a risk between crossing the line from life to death; she needed a place where she could calm down.

Hurrying out of the classroom with only a quick word to Professor Pallett who looked at her with an all too knowing eye she walked without any thought to where her feet might be taking her.

She wasn't surprised when she found her way outside nor when she began to climb into the seats of the Quidditch stands. It reminded her of all the times she had come to see Harry playing and then later on, Ron. She smiled at the memories.

"And I thought I was the only one to come here." Hermione's head whipped around at the sound of a new voice and had to stifle a gasp when she saw who it was.

The family resemblance was striking, thought Hermione as she looked at who was undoubtedly Regulus Black.

He sat a few rows back from Hermione with his feet on the chairs in front of him as he reclined backwards in his seat, eyes closed.

"Afraid not." Was Hermione's weak reply as she tried to get over the surprise of seeing the man who had stolen Voldemort's horcrux in the flesh.

"Go on then spill." Hermione sent him a confused look which he seemed to sense since he had yet to open his eyes, he elaborated, "Tell me what's gone so terribly wrong in your life that's made you come and sulk up here."

"I'm not sulking!" Was Hermione's first and rather sharp response, "And why would you care?" She added as an afterthought.

This response served only to amuse Regulus, " I don't care. But I'd rather hear about your petty problems, I could do with a good laugh."

Although she was pretty sure that last comment was meant to rile her up she couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her. At this Regulus opened an eye to take a look at her before shrugging off whatever was on his mind.

"Well as much as I'm sure you'd like to hear about my 'petty problems' shouldn't you be in class?" She asked trying to change the subject.

"Shouldn't you?" He retorted before sighing, " Free period."

Hermione nodded absently at his answer before he spoke again, this time in a mockery of a flirty tone, " So you come here often?"

This time Hermione couldn't help laughing.

~o~o~o~

All of Hermione's fellow Gryffindor were worried by her sudden disappearance out of class and most had their ideas about why she'd done it. As they all sat down at their bench in the Great Hall Dorcas looked down the bench but soon found that Hermione wasn't there.

"Look, she's up there!" Said Lily as though reading Dorcas's anxieties, pointing to the entrance of the hall which Hermione had just walked though.

Sure enough Hermione had just walked though talking and laughing with- hang on, was that _Regulus Black?_

Dorcas just caught sight of Sirius's knuckles turning white as he gripped the knife and fork in his hands as he saw his brother before she turned to Lily. Lily's face always conveyed her emotions and she was pretty sure her own sentiment matched the red head's exactly at that moment.

_Shit._

…

A/N- Sorry for the wait, but I stuck by my promise and hopefully this chapter is much more exciting than the last (it wouldn't take a lot). Any questions or suggestions please leave a review… no questions or suggestions leave a review anyway; I love knowing what you think!-VE


	11. Chapter 11

_Sure enough Hermione had just walked though talking and laughing with- hang on, was that Regulus Black?_

_Dorcas just caught sight of Sirius's knuckles turning white as he gripped the knife and fork in his hands as he saw his brother before she turned to Lily. Lily's face always conveyed her emotions and she was pretty sure her own sentiment matched the red head's exactly at that moment._

_Shit._

Hermione walked over and sat with their group as though she hadn't noticed anything amiss. Maybe she hadn't, but the others certainly had. Everyone within their group of friends had a subtle eye on Sirius as he continued to sit there with his jaw set as he looked at the witch in front of him. Hermione gave no sign of noticing.

It wasn't until she started to serve herself some food did he finally break.

"Who were you talking with?" He asked in a tightly controlled voice.

At this Hermione shot him a strange look.

"Um…your brother?" She said, when she looked up at him she finally seemed to realise that there was something amiss about him. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"No. Don't speak to him again. He's no brother of mine."

~o~o~o~

Hermione knew that there would be a certain level of hostility between the brothers but this surprised even her. Although she knew it shouldn't, it riled her to be told what to do in such a blunt fashion with no reason behind it.

"Excuse me?" She asked with her voice dangerously even, " I don't believe it's any of your business who I speak to."

The girls from her dorm and the rest of the marauders all kept their heads ducked, hoping to stay out of what they were sure was going to be the biggest fight the Great Hall had seen in quite a few years.

Sirius looked up to meet Hermione's eyes, "He's not the sort of person you want to associate with. Stay away from him." He said in a way that bordered on patronising.

If there was one thing that Hermione couldn't stand it was being talked down to; she put down her cutlery and abandoned all attempt at civil conversation, "You do not get to decide who I talk to. I'll have you know he was perfectly lovely and even he weren't I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"What did he say?" Demanded Sirius, when Hermione gave no sign of telling him he carried on blithely, "And you didn't look too capable of taking care of yourself last night!"

Whatever excuses Hermione had been making for him in her mind up until that point vanished. She closed her eyes and tried to reign in her temper. It would not do to shout at him in the middle of the Hall. Without another word Hermione stood from the bench and grabbed her bag. Slinging it over her shoulder she walked out of the Hall and carried on out of sight.

~o~o~o~

The minute Hermione was out of sight having left her untouched food behind Lily rounded on Sirius,

"What did you say that for?" She hissed.

Sirius for his part looked utterly confused as to what he was supposed to have done, "What?" He asked genuinely perplexed. Remus just shook his head and Lily looked to angry to speak so Dorcas stepped in,

"Sirius, she was starting to look happy, she didn't need reminding of last night." Sirius at least had the decency to look abashed at this but still didn't look too regretful.

"Look," he said in a rough approximation of a reasonable tone, "She has to know who to stay away from, I mean she's already friends with Snape, for god's sake!"

At his last sentence hung in the air Lily too stood up from her seat and a moment later so did Dorcas.

"Where are you going?" Said James who up until this point had been silent.

"To find Hermione." Said Lily shortly before storming out of the hall. Dorcas paused only to throw James a sympathetic look and Sirius a scathing one before walking briskly after Lily.

~o~o~o~

Hermione had only reached a little way before she realised she had no idea of where she was heading. The place that immediately came to mind was the library but she immediately dismissed it knowing that she would never get any work done in the state she was in. She hadn't taken two more steps before the answer came to her.

The girls bathroom.

It was nearing the week of the full moon and if she wanted Remus's potion to be ready it was going to need another check. Quickly adjusting her route she set off for the bathrooms.

When she got there she was relieved to find out that Myrtle was absent, she could've sworn that the ghost took pleasure in tormenting her. Shaking herself out of it she set about checking the potion and making sure that all was going according to plan.

It was.

In fact it should have finished by tomorrow or the next day at the latest. There was nothing she could do for it except wait. Feeling exceptionally smug about this newest victory she left the toilets feeling a great deal better about her situation.

The anger from earlier had melted away as it always did and looking out of one of the high and ornate windows she saw that the sky was free of clouds and blemishes. Making a split second and impulsive decision she began to make her way outside to where a walk, she decided, would do her good.

~o~o~o~

When Lily and Dorcas finally caught up with Hermione they were surprised to see her out sitting by the lake. They had checked all of the places they thought her likely to be and only as a last resort looked outside. It was Lily who spotted her looking once again happy and relaxed under a tree looking out over the ripples of the lake. They walked up to her and sat down. She gave them a smile of greeting but said nothing.

"Are you ok?" Asked Lily tentatively.

"Oh, I'm fine." Said Hermione breezily, "I've just never taken well to people telling what to do." Her mind gave a quick flash back of all of her adventures over the years; in every one of them she'd been told to go back a least once. Her heart gave a tug when she remembered who had been at her side throughout all of it but she quickly ignored it.

"He means well." Said Dorcas who was staring out at the lake.

"I know." With that the three girls stood and began to make their way to the rest of the days lessons.

~o~o~o~

The rest of the days passed uneventfully but Hermione still found herself tired at the end of it all. She was looking forward to curling up in a chair in the common room o going up to her dorm. Within minutes of entering the Gryffindor common room she saw that this was unlikely to happen.

What seemed like hoards of people were all crowded around the notice board and Hermione was sure she could hear some shrill shrieking coming from the middle of it.

"What's going on?" She asked Remus who was closest to her.

"The dates for the Hogsmeade weekend have just been put up." He explained, "It's going to be busy this year, but I'm sure you'll like it."

"Hmm," said Hermione, "not sure I'll be going."

Remus looked mildly surprised by this but it was the aghast reply from behind her that drew her attention,

"Hermione, you _have_ to go!" Said Alice, "You've never been before, you'll love it!"

Hermione just gave a strained sort of smile before turning to go and hunt down a little bit of peace before another voice entered the fray,

"But you'll have to get a date." Hermione turned around to see Marlene looking at her amusedly. At Hermione's disbelieving look she held her hands up, "It's true! You have to have a date, it's right before Christmas, so it'll be lovely." She said firmly.

Hermione just smiled and walked away.

~o~o~o~

Eventually when the activity died down Hermione found herself sitting in on the sofa by the fire. She was so absorbed in the book she was reading, she didn't see Sirius walking over to her until he right beside her,

"Hello?" He said waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hello." She replied only a little frostily.

Sirius sighed before running a hand though his hair, "Look, I'm not sorry about what I said and I still mean it," he paused to see her reaction; she sat there looking at him; completely unreadable, "but I'm sorry I made you angry." Hermione still sat there looking none the friendlier and it was then that an idea hit him, "How about to make it up to you, I take you to Hogsmeade? Just you… and me… and the butterbeer." He gave her a suggestive wink and was relieved when she started smiling.

"Thanks," she said with a laugh, "But I'll pass on Hogsmeade." With that she smiled at him once more and left for her dorm.

Sirius sat there confused. It took a moment for him to process that he really had just been rejected; it was a bit of a new experience.

It wasn't like he particularly liked Hermione but it still stung slightly to be shot down like that. Shaking himself out of it he decided that a phenomenon like that did not occur all the time and walked off to find James, after all James had gotten pretty good at handling rejection over the years.

…

A/N- I'm so sorry for both the length and the wait, I'm a bad person but don't worry karma will most definitely get me. However, despite this I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave reviews! All the best-VE

Ps. For the reviewer who talked about the whole time/ alternative future angle of the story, don't worry all will be explained! J


	12. Chapter 12

_It wasn__'t like he particularly liked Hermione but it still stung slightly to be shot down like that. Shaking himself out of it he decided that a phenomenon like that did not occur all the time and walked off to find James, after all James had gotten pretty good at handling rejection over the years. _

For Hermione the next two days passed in quick succession and before she knew it she was staring at a cauldron of fully matured wolfsbane potion. It may have been strange but she had enjoyed brewing it; it had given her something to focus on. The only problem now was trying to get Remus to drink it without raising suspicion.

She knew that it would be impossible to trick him into drinking it due to the fact it smoked quite a lot and would be impossible to mix in with pumpkin juice, not only this but just out of curiosity (and after making sure it would have no adverse side effects) Hermione had procured the tiniest amount on her ladle and put it in her mouth. The resulting taste had been absolutely foul. Definitely not something you could trick someone into drinking.

This meant that the only option left to her was spell work. She could always use the imperious curse but even the idea of that was repellent. That would have to be the absolute last resort.

She was sitting on the cold floor of the girls toilets trying to come up with inspiration when she had the idea. Quickly, she poured a cups worth of the potion into the flask she had brought with her and hurried from the bathroom intent on carrying out her plan as quickly as possible.

~o~o~o~

Hermione was glad that she had collected the potion before classes had begun because just as she was making her way back from Arithmancy to the library for her free period the perfect opportunity arose. She watched as ahead Remus walked into the library alone and made his way to the tables at the back. Taking care to remain unseen Hermione managed to position herself behind a bookcase . Slowly she took out her wand and aimed it carefully.

"_Confundus_." She whispered and watched as confusion stole over Remus's face.

From then it was all too easy to walk up to him and hold the potion up to his lips as he took it from her. With a little encouragement on her part he had seen drunk the contents of the flask despite gagging slightly on the putrid taste. When she was done she stood behind the bookcase once more and lifted the spell.

Only once she saw Remus shake his head slightly to rid himself of the after effects of the spell did she walk out and sit down opposite him to study. He smiled at her in welcome and gave no other indication that he knew of what had just passed. Settling down to write her essays Hermione smiled. She had taken care to make the spell strong enough that he would not be able to remember it when the spell was lifted and it had looked as though all was going well so far.

~o~o~o~

Hermione quite wished that other aspects of her life could controlled that easily. While her temper had been much improved (she was getting more sleep ever since she had started retaking the dreamless sleep potion, she knew that she wasn't quite ready for what the dreams would bring yet) the constant harrowing of her friends was starting to fray her nerves.

It was mostly Alice although the other girls had been known to join in trying to convince her to go to Hogsmeade on the approaching weekend. Hermione had desperately tried to make up a legitimate excuse but her friends could see straight through her.

In truth the reason she didn't want to go was that while she was starting to gain some semblance of a normal life in the castle she knew that it would be hard to pretend to be ignorant of the place in Hogsmeade. She had gotten used to walking though the castle where she had seen scenes of bloody battles only weeks before, but her last memory of Hogsmeade was standing huddled underneath Harry's cloak as they tried to fight off the chill of the dementors. It wasn't a pleasant memory but at least she had been with her friends.

And apart from that it seemed like most her friends would pairing off to go with a date. It had come to the point where Hermione was almost regretting turning down Sirius, because as horrendously awkward as it would have been for her to go on a date with her best friend's godfather, if she was going to be forced to go she would rather not go alone. But Sirius hadn't spoken to her again about going so she had resigned herself to wandering around by herself unless she could manage to escape beforehand.

She was trying to think of a way to escape from going as she sat on the grounds one lunch time. She had been sitting with Dorcas chatting aimlessly before her friend had had to rush off having remembered an unfinished essay to be handed in by next period. She left Hermione sitting on the grass with absolutely nothing to do.

It was a curious feeling.

It seemed like ever since Hermione had joined the magical world at the age of eleven there had always been something to do or worry about.

Nothing.

All of her homework was done, her possessions fully sorted through and stored and she had given Remus his second dose of the wolfsbane potion that morning with no complications. So it was then that Hermione found herself wondering how to get out of going to Hogsmeade.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice someone approaching her from behind, which was unlike her these days. She only looked around when Regulus collapsed unceremoniously on the ground next to her. She smiled at him and he gave her a half smile in return.

Ever since the day when she had first talked to him in the quidditch stands she made sure she always had a kind word to say to him and he made sure he had a sarcastic one in return.

It was a strange sort of friendship but one that she felt comfortable in. Both of them came from darker backgrounds than any of Hermione's friends and sometimes it was nice not to have to pretend to be cheery for appearances sake. Hermione didn't mind but she also had a sneaking suspicion that the fact Regulus was so willing to talk to her had something to do with the interesting shade of red his brother's face would go when he saw them talking together. Wisely, Sirius had said nothing about it to Hermione but she was under no illusion that he approved of their friendship.

""What's wrong with you this time?" Said Regulus looking over to her.

"Nothing." Said Hermione slightly surprised he would ask this when for the first time in quite a while she felt as though she had some level of control on the goings on around her.

"If you don't tell me I'm going to assume it's worse than it is." He said darkly.

"Nothing's _wrong_," said Hermione, "I was just wondering how to get out of something."

"The Hogsmeade weekend?" Guessed Regulus, smiling when he saw Hermione give a begrudging nod. "Good luck getting out of that one, nearly everyone goes to the one before Christmas."

Hermione just sighed as she saw the truth in his words, she knew that if she had to Alice would drag her there by her hair. Regulus on the other hand couldn't help but be quite amused by what was troubling Hermione. "It's not like you'll be by yourself," he said, "all you're friends'll be there." His lip curled slightly as he thought just who her _friends_ were.

"Not this time." Said Hermione wryly, "They're all going to pair off." She explained to Regulus who had looked slightly confused.

"Right, that's it then." He said, "you're going with me. Sorted." Hermione looked at him in shock before bursting out in to peels of laughter that felt sadly foreign to her. Regulus looked put out by her reaction and pouted slightly, "What?"

"Nothing, just your brother had a nicer way of asking." She said trying to dampen her giggles. Instead of closing off like she had expected him to Regulus's face split into a wide smile.

"Perfect." He said sounding worryingly gleeful, "Come with me and it'll be the perfect way to piss him off." Hermione started to protest at that before Regulus spoke over her, "I bet he gave you a bit of a hard time when he saw you talked to me a few days ago didn't he?" Hermione gave another reluctant nod, "Well think of this as the perfect way to get back at him!" Regulus held out his hand between them and with a smile and against her better judgement Hermione shook it.

~o~o~o~

Hermione had decided not to mention her and Regulus's agreement to her friends though she thought she saw a knowing glint in Alice's eyes when she said she would be going to Hogsmeade after all. Alice couldn't possibly know that it was Regulus who she was going with but she suspected it had something to do with a boy.

As for Hermione she wasn't really sure what had driven her to shake Regulus's hand apart from the fact that she remembered how incredibly annoyed she was when Sirius had told her who she could and who she couldn't talk to.

She felt something akin to what she had felt when she had asked Cormac McLaggen to Slughorn's party. She quickly shuttered that memory out of her head before she remembered who she had been trying to spite.

Instead she tried to focus on other things.

The full moon was to be tomorrow night and the day after that was the Hogsmeade weekend.

She knew that Remus wasn't planning on going; usually the day after the full moon he wasn't in any position to be doing anything. She was hoping that this time he'd be pleasantly surprised, if incredible confused.

Speaking of confused she couldn't believe how well her plan of using the Confundus charm was. She was always careful to make sure that they were completely alone and that the charm was strong enough so as to make sure that he wouldn't remember. Just one more time and Remus would be set for a transformation which didn't leave a blood thirsty beast.

Truth be told that while she couldn't tell him it was her and she knew that he was going to be terribly confused, she was almost looking forward to his reaction in the morning when he would realise that he had come out of the night completely unscathed. It would be disconcerting to him in the very least after years of going through that pain.

With a sigh that was almost contentment she made her way to her first lesson of the day.

~o~o~o~

In another part of the castle entirely Dorcas Meadows was frantically searching for her homework that had only just been completed. Her stuff was all over the floor and the bed which only made it harder to search. She dropped to her hands and knees to search the floor as she cast a envious glance at the bed next to hers. Hermione's bed and belongings were perfectly arranged and stored, even her bedside table which was just next to where Dorcas was on the floor was clutter free.

A small and slightly crumpled bit of paper caught her attention. Relief coursed through her when she grabbed it and smoothed it out, already standing to head off to her first lesson. She glanced down at the paper and was surprised as it became apparent it was unfamiliar. She almost put it down when she saw that it was a letter to Hermione but some of the words jumped out at her and before she knew it she had settled down to read as a small frown puckered her brow.

….

A/N- Thank you for reading! Sorry for the long wait but at least this chapters longer, I hope you liked it and if you did leave a review! All the best- VE


	13. Chapter 13

_A small and slightly crumpled bit of paper caught her attention. Relief coursed through her when she grabbed it and smoothed it out, already standing to head off to her first lesson. She glanced down at the paper and was surprised as it became apparent it was unfamiliar. She almost put it down when she saw that it was a letter to Hermione but some of the words jumped out at her and before she knew it she had settled down to read as a small frown puckered her brow._

The next morning as Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room before venturing down to breakfast she felt a nervous anticipation settle down upon her. Today was the day of the full moon. She had already managed to corner Remus in the early hours of the morning seeing as the pain of his body preparing for the transformation had kept him up for most of the night. Hermione herself had been up because she had turned into quite the insomniac ever since learning that her dreams portrayed what was happening in her time. A part of her ached to know what was happening but another, bigger and more dominant part retained that she didn't want to know. She knew it was cowardly but she honestly didn't know how much more she could take before it all became to much to try and pretend to act normally, she was much better off just taking her dreamless sleep potion up until she was ready to find out what came next in fate of her friends.

She jolted herself from her reverie before her mind could continue such a train of thought. Shouldering her bag she made her way down to the Great Hall at a brisk a pace as she could manage. She was mostly healed from her ordeal but she still became short of breath all too easily and after a particularly tiring day it wasn't uncommon for her to feel the familiar shoots of pain making their way over her body. Much to her distaste she still had to carry her cane with her and her friends nearly always brought it down to breakfast for her when she 'forgot' it. Still, she could walk almost perfectly now which as a plus since she would be making the long walk to Hogsmeade tomorrow… Hermione closed her eyes when she remember.

She still hadn't told her friends that she was going with Regulus. Somehow the fact that the opportune moment had never presented itself coupled together with her reluctance had meant that her friends, and Sirius in particular, had no idea.

She entered the Great Hall an made her way over to the Gryffindor table. It was still quite early in the morning for breakfast so very few students were there. In fact, noted Hermione as she cast a quick eye over the classroom, there were very few students in the hall altogether. She settled down into her seat before looking up at the Slytherin table. She couldn't see anyone she recognised (which was a slightly disconcerting experience) until a person at the end of the table looked up from the book they were all but hunched over and caught her eye.

To her surprise there was no malice in Snape's eyes when he looked at her and instead he just gave her a civil nod of the head and returned to his book. Feeling quite shell-shocked at having what was undoubtedly the most pleasant exchange with her potions master she had ever experienced, Hermione reached across the table for the bowl filled with porridge and began to eat.

Before a full five minutes had yet to pass a tired and ill looking Remus Lupin had sat down beside her. She looked at him sympathetically but said nothing. She knew from her own time what the man could be like on the eve of the full moon and so knew it was in her best interests to stay as quiet as possible.

Apparently the marauders knew no such thing. Or if they did just chose to ignore it.

They came bounding into the Great Hall all chatting animatedly, walking towards her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Remus's jaw tighten slightly and Hermione knew that he was trying not to snap at them. Eventually all of friends had joined them and they sat in a large group on the table. Some how between them Dorcas and Alice had managed to coerce Lily into sitting next to James, close enough so that their shoulders brushed each other. Hermione knew she wasn't imagining it when she saw Lily's blush when she accidentally brushed her hand against James'. All in all it was quite sweet, she thought and she knew that Alice thought the same when she saw the other girls smugly triumphant smirk. Still, as they ate breakfast the conversation that flowed around her was light and superficial. She contributed occasionally and kept an eye on Remus subtly just to make sure that he really was okay.

"Hermione?"

Hermione's attention was caught by someone calling her name. She looked at Alice who seemed to awaiting a reply to a question that she had missed completely.

"Hmm?" She asked looking at the others all who looked to be interested in hearing her reply.

"I said, who are you going to Hogsmeade with?" Hermione felt her heart speed up a little at the question that seemed perfectly innocent but to her looked like a waiting bear trap. Would it be better to tell them now or just let them see her with him tomorrow?

"Who says I'm going with anyone?" Hedged Hermione praying that Alice would leave it be but knowing though the slightly evil looking glint in her eye that she wouldn't.

"Oh come on!" She said while all the others looked on, "Someone must have asked you or you wouldn't be coming, remember that you were so adamant that you weren't coming? Well, you're coming now so something must have changed your mind!"

Hermione opened her mouth only to close it again, how on earth was she going to explain this? As if that wasn't bad enough she now had the entire groups undivided attention, with Sirius looking at her with unashamed curiosity. She knew that he was wondering who she was going with particularly as she had turned down his offer of accompanying her.

She was just about to open her mouth again and try and deflect or dodge the question when she felt two hands come to rest on her shoulders,

"She's going with me, actually." Came a cool voice from behind her. Hermione twisted in her seat to see Regulus standing there looking quite impassive but she could tell from the way that his eyes were fixed on his brother that he wanted a rise out of him. Silence reigned over their table and Hermione ducked her head as she felt everyone's gaze on her.

"Oh, that's…nice." Said Lily weakly in an obvious attempt to break the tension that had settled so suddenly. Hermione shot her a grateful smile while James just looked at her incredulously.

Regulus just raised an eyebrow, "Isn't it?" He said before removing his hands from Hermione's shoulders; she sagged in relief for a moment before freezing in shock when Regulus leaned over her slightly and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. With a barely concealed smirk to his brother he sauntered off back to the Slytherin table obviously oblivious to the murderous glare that Hermione was sending at his back.

In a way she had brought this on herself. She knew that going to Hogsmeade with Regulus would cause problems but at the time sheer pique and irritation at Sirius had been ruling her decisions. Besides, it wasn't like she disliked Regulus. In the time they had spent together talking she had come to quite like him, it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't hover over her in a state of worry all the time. However, he had just come over and thrown her into the lion's den, quite literally. It was alright for him, he could walk away, she was stuck here.

Her mind was quickly flicking through all of the possible things she could say or do to improve the situation, but this time her mind drew a blank.

She still hadn't fully turned back to her dorm-mates to see their reaction when a completely unexpected noise threw her for the count. She turned around to see Alice cackling madly. The girl had tears in her eyes as she struggled to stay upright in her seat. Even Dorcas looked like she was fighting to keep her mouth straight. Hermione looked at Alice first but quickly turned to Dorcas for answers. To her surprise when her eyes met Dorcas's the other girl quickly looked down as all traces of good humour fled from her face. Hermione had seen something flash momentarily in her eyes but she was at her loss when she tried to figure out what it was. The frown upon her face etched deeper as she thought about it.

Alice just about managed to stifle her laughter long enough to choke out, "Well, I didn't see that coming!" By now all the girls had at least a suppressed smile on their faces even if Lily's face still looked completely bemused. Even Peter let out a nervous titter before he saw the look on Sirius's face.

James and Remus were both sending Sirius uneasy looks, and for good reason. Sirius's face had gone from curious to fuming in a matter of seconds. He still stared after where his brother had walked away as the girls (particularly Alice) started to talk aloud about this new development.

"Don't go with him." Hermione looked in surprise at Sirius's words. Unlike the last time he had said it there was no anger behind them just the need to make her understand, "He's not going with you because he likes you," Sirius carried on blithely not seeing James wince at his poor choice of words or Remus bring up a hand to rub tiredly across his face, "he's just using you to get to me."

"Oh?" Said Hermione her voice dangerously even. She knew that Regulus didn't like her like that nor she him but there was something about Sirius's assumption that there was no way that Regulus would ask her to Hogsmeade because he liked her company. The insinuation that the only way that Regulus would see her was as an accessory to annoy his brother irked her to no end. "And why is so hard to believe he asked me because he likes me?"

Sirius looked up at her and from the silence of his friends seemed to finally catch on that he was treading on very dangerous ground, "Well," he said trying to make his voice sound reasonable, "my parents always taught my brother very… traditional views of who he should be associated with…" He tailed off when he saw Lily wince at his choice of words and Hermione looked at him in shock.

Across the table Hermione wasn't actually as shocked she as she pretended to let on but from everyone else's reaction they certainly were. She actually thought that Sirius was being quite tactful- for him anyway. But no matter how delicately Sirius may treat the matter it didn't stop the memories rushing back into her mind.

"_If she dies under questioning it'll be you next, blood traitors are right next to mudbloods in my book."_

"_Mudblood!"_

She knew that he didn't believe in any of the views his family taught and to be honest she wasn't sure if Regulus did either but the words still inflamed her temper,

"So what you're saying," she said trying to keep her voice steady, after all she knew it wasn't their fault but her memories still sat at the back of her mind, "is that you doubt your brother would want to be seen with me because I'm a mudblood?"

The reaction to her words were instant and varied. Remus looked at her through shocked eyes while Alice and Dorcas paled slightly at the word and how casually it had been said. Marlene who had only just joined them and had only caught the last part of their conversation looked around their face trying to figure out what was going on while Lily looked down at her plate silently. It almost made Hermione crack a smile when she saw James place a hand over hers and Lily tellingly didn't pull away. Sirius sat in front of her looking quite shaken.

It all struck Hermione as quite strange that a word had caused such a reaction but she could guess at the cause. In her time the word had been bandied about so much it had ceased to have much meaning. It was hard to be offended by a word that you had been called for many years. After all the first time she had been called it by Malfoy in her second year she had wanted to just run and hide away from the others. It only took one look at Harry's confused face before she realised that he had never heard the word before so didn't know it was wrong. It had occurred to her that the only reason she had been so offended was that other people had told her to be so. In the end it wasn't something that she could help so why should it be used against her?

"Don't say that." Came a quiet voice. This time it was not Sirius who spoke but James who still had a held of Lily's hand on the table. Hermione could guess as to why; knew that it wasn't the first time that Lily had heard the insult.

"Why not?" Hermione asked in return.

This time it was Sirius spoke as it seemed James could not answer the question, "No one deserves to be called that." He said in a definite tone that left little room for argument.

"Well, mudblood and proud." Said Hermione smiling as she echoed her words from what seemed like a life time ago.

As she said the words in her minds eye she saw Harry looking pale and distraught in front of her and felt Ron's arm wrapped around her. Even though it was a memory which should have caused pain it only made her more determined to keep fighting to get back to what she had left. With not another word Hermione got up from the table, no longer feeling hungry and left, leaving her friends to stare after her in disbelief.

~o~o~o~

As the day drew on Remus felt the familiar pull of the moon. Every passing minute was a little worse than the one before it and the sympathetic glances from his friends did nothing to help or improve his mood. In fact half way though transfiguration which was the second to last lesson of the day he felt he could stand it no longer. With a quick, weak excuse to Professor McGonagall he haphazardly gathered his things and hurried from the room as fast as his aching bones would allow.

He noticed neither the way half of his supplies still littered his desk or the determined glint in Lily's eyes as he passed her by.

~o~o~o~

Lily waited until Remus was out of the room before putting her hand up and offering to take the rest of his things to him. She knew company was probably the last thing he wanted right now but maybe it would do him some good. Professor McGonagall quickly agreed to let her go after him, having seen that her work was near enough completed but gave Sirius a stern glare when he offered to go instead.

As Lily walked from the room with Remus's things gathered in her hands she wondered what she was going to say. She didn't think she would be able to see hi suffer through his ordeal in silence any more.

She caught up with Remus quickly, seeing him round a corner that was in the complete opposite way to the hospital wing: the place she had thought he would be more likely to go to. Instead he made his way to the grounds. She walked a distance behind him careful to stay silent, curious as to where he would go.

Eventually, after a slow walk that felt painful just to look at he settled on a grassy verge outside of the castle. Carefully, Lily approached him and sat down silently.

"Hi, I brought you the rest of your things." She said quietly, mindful of the fact that raising her voice would only cause him more discomfort due to his heightened senses.

"Thank you." He said wearily as he took them from her. He gave no sign of moving so neither did she.

"Are you okay?" She asked timidly, unsure of how to broach the subject. She knew she had to tell him the truth about what she knew about him and the full moon but she honestly had no idea of how to tell him. But she knew she had to, to not do so would be unfair of her, and after all she had known for ages without telling him, it was definitely time.

"Fine. Thank you." Came his short reply which neither encouraged her to go on or gave her any idea of what she had to say to tell him. Maybe, she decided, the best way was the most simple way.

Carefully, she placed her hand on top of his own and began to speak "Remus, you know I love you, don't you?" She paused as she had to try and restrain a bubble of laughter at the look of undulated panic that flitted across his face, "Not like that! As a friend." The corner of his mouth quirked up at that and Lily ploughed on determined to speak her piece, "And nothing will change that. Ever." She said with conviction as she saw a tinge of sadness take over his face, "So it doesn't matter to me that you're a werewolf."

As soon as the words had left her mouth she felt him stiffen and turn his face away from hers, "Don't be silly," he said in a voice that sounded so forced she knew that even if she hadn't have been sure of it in the first place she would be now, "of course I'm not." Lily looked at him but he refused to meet her eyes. Instead of trying to talk to him again she simply scooted closed to him and wrapped her arms around him. It took a minute but eventually he relaxed slightly into her embrace and a silent understanding passed between them.

"How long?" Asked Lily quietly.

Remus just sighed as he continued to look at the horizon, "Since I was five." He heard Lily's sharp intake of breath beside him but instead of putting more distance between them as he would of expected she simply rested her head on his shoulder in a silent gesture of support. Maybe he could get used to having another person know his secret, after all it wasn't as if he had told her and he was pretty certain that it was just her who knew-

"Oh, by the way, I think Dorcas figured it out too."

He couldn't the little bit of mirth that crept into his mind after that, he supposed that if she hadn't told already it wasn't looking like she would now. He could deal with that.

~o~o~o~

Later that afternoon after the classes had finished for the day Dorcas found herself pondering almost obsessively. Ever since she had read the letter that had fallen from Hermione's nightstand it puzzled her mind to no end. There were many mysteries surrounding the girl, she knew that much, but the letter had just piqued her interest. She hadn't talked to Hermione since the debacle at breakfast and quite frankly that had only made her more interested in what she could possibly be hiding. Without meaning to her mind wandered back to the letter she had read,

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_As you may have noticed this trunk contains all of the basics that you will be needing to go though your life here at Hogwarts. The headmaster has enclosed money for the next Hogsmeade weekend for he feels that you will be needing to purchase normal day wear._

_The Headmaster has also seen fit to inform me of your … unusual predicament, I will not pretend that I was not shocked when I first learned of it but I can assure you that myself, Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey are the only ones who now of your circumstances and we all think that it would be a lot simpler if we continued to be the only ones to know._

_I hope you settle into life here in Hogwarts, but know that my door is always open,_

_Your sincerely _

_Prof. M. McGonagall _

She had replaced the letter before it could be missed but it had already sent her mind into a tailspin. What predicament? What did they know? These questions chased themselves around her mind endlessly and she knew that even though it wasn't hers to share she had to tell somebody, or she would quite simply go mad.

Just as she looked around the common room her eyes alighted on Lily and Remus both of whom were just climbing in through the portrait hole.

As she watched Lily sent Remus a smile before walking off to talk with Marlene by the fire. She looked back at Remus and was surprised to see him looking quite chipper for a night of the full moon, especially considering that his transformation was only hours away. Dorcas had known that he was a werewolf for quite sometime, but like Lily, she had never found a good time to tell him especially considering that she wasn't as close to him as Lily was. She had been quite surprised to find out at first but she had recognised the signs relatively easily. Her mother's sister suffered with the affliction so she knew what to look for in a werewolf. She had never told anyone that she had known a werewolf growing up especially when her Aunt had passed away a few years ago but it was thanks to this that she had never held any ill will towards their kind. After all it was hard to loathe a woman who you could remember sitting in the grass with you and making daisy chains when you were eight.

Steeling herself she walked over to Remus and spoke before she could talk herself out of it.

"Remus can I talk to you for a second. You might want to see this."

…..

A/N-Thank you for reading! I hope you liked the chapter and if you do please drop me a line, in say…..a review? Anyway next chapter will be Hogsmeade and even more drama, hope you liked it,

All the best,

VE


	14. Chapter 14

_Steeling herself she walked over to Remus and spoke before she could talk herself out of it._

"_Remus can I talk to you for a second. You might want to see this."_

When Hermione woke up at her usual early time, due to her sleeping potion wearing off, on the morning after the full moon she could feel the buzz of anticipation in her chest. In theory she knew that Remus would be fine after having the wolfsbane potion but she was anxious to make sure at any rate.

With no preamble she threw on some clothes and made her way down to the common room. It was completely empty due to the early hour and the fact that no one felt like getting up early on a Saturday morning. Hermione bit back a groan as she positioned herself in an armchair as she remembered the date. The date of the Hogsmeade weekend. She didn't mind spending the day with Regulus but she hoped that she wasn't going to be caught in between the two brothers again.

She was abruptly brought back to the present as she heard the common room door swing open and four people walk quietly in. She hunkered down in the chair slightly and tried to listen with out being seen.

"-you don't know what happened?" The voice that came first was definitely James as they crept towards their dorm.

"No, I've told you. It was just like… I was in control. I was still _me_." Hermione was happy to hear the note of subdued glee n Remus's voice. It felt nice to have changed something for the better.

"And you have no idea of what caused it?" This time it was Sirius who spoke and his voice held a familiar touch of curiosity about it.

Hermione couldn't see them too well over the back of her chair but she saw Remus shake his head, still smiling. They all made their way up to their rooms with Peter dragging behind obviously too tired to join in on the rehashing of events.

Smiling to herself Hermione settled down to get in a hour or two of reading before the others woke up and she was forced to join them.

~o~o~o~

Dorcas cast another look at Hermione from across the table where they were all eating breakfast. The girl had seemed happy and chipper when everyone else had managed to get up today and it was easy to forget that there was something strange about her. A couple of times she had come close to just straight up asking Hermione what she was hiding but she bit her tongue and reminded herself that subtlety might be the way forward.

When she had showed Remus the letter she had found he too seemed to think it strange. He read the whole thing and stood there pondering it for a few moments before he apologised and had to leave. Dorcas didn't blame him for it, she knew it had been the night of the full moon but she just felt like she had to tell _someone_.

She cast another look at the girl who was now chatting animatedly with Alice. The root of the problem seemed to lay in the fact that Dorcas actually quite liked Hermione. It was hard to be suspicious of someone when you found yourself laughing at their jokes.

~o~o~o~

Remus who was sat next to Hermione and across from Dorcas could very clearly see all of the suspicious glances that Dorcas felt the need to give. In truth, it didn't surprise him too much that there was more to Hermione than met the eye but it didn't overly bother him either. As someone who was very used to having his own secrets he found it very easy to respect other people who wanted to protect their own.

He knew he should probably talk to Dorcas about her suspicions but he was finding it hard to concentrate this morning. He had been to see Madam Pomfrey already this morning, as was his routine, and even she had been astounded by his lack of injuries. In fact he felt completely fine apart from the residual ache in his bones that came from changing form. He still wasn't completely over the shock of having transformed last night only to find him self fully aware, just in a wolf's body. The night had been easily whittled away by playing with the others and eventually settling down to sleep but he could tell they were just as confused as him with this new development.

He looked up from his breakfast still contemplating the events of the night before when he met Hermione's eyes. She was looking at a way that one might look at an experiment or something to be learned from. He gave her a nod which she returned with what looked like a satisfied look in her eyes before she left to return to the common room quicker than Remus could question the look she had given him.

~o~o~o~

When Hermione left the table to get ready for the day in Hogsmeade the first thing Sirius did was turn to James,

"I'm going to follow them." He said with absolute conviction in his voice.

James looked at him uneasily before sighing, "Mate, you can't do that." He said looking at Sirius with something akin to pity in his eyes, "Hermione right; it's not up to you who she sees."

Sirius glared at him dubiously, "It's not that I don't trust her…I just don't trust him."

James ran a hand though his hair as he tried to find the words to dissuade his friend from this course of action, "What if," he said tentatively, "you don't follow them, you just…keep an eye out for them?" Sirius seemed to consider this option for a while but eventually gave a grunt of indifference, earning a sigh of relief from his best friend.

~o~o~o~

When Hermione reached her dorm again she wasn't surprised to find all of her room mates packed in making last minute adjustments to their outfits and chatting away merrily.

They all either waved or smiled at Hermione apart from Lily who was fretting over her appearance in the mirror and Dorcas who refused to look at Hermione once more. Hermione almost called her out on it but her train of thought was interrupted by Lily,

"Alice are sure I don't look too made up? I think I look fairly ridiculous, is there enough time to take some of this make up off?-"

"Relax, Lily." Soothed Alice, "You look lovely. Who are you going with anyway?"

Lily turned bright red at her question and flustered slightly, "No one." She said too quickly to sound entirely convincing.

Marlene joined in the conversation from the other side of the room, "Lily, you don't get that worried if you're not going with anyone, spill!"

Lily muttered something quickly and turned away.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that!" Sang Alice cheerfully.

"I said James!"

All of the mouths in the room apart from Hermione's dropped and the cheerful banter fell silent at Lily's answer. Marlene even managed to drop her wand which she had been using to curl her eyelashes and for a short moment silence and shock reigned in the room. Pandemonium soon ensued.

"You're going out with Potter?"

"Since when has he been _James_-"

"I thought you swore you'd never say yes when he asked you out, or was that just-"

"Alright, alright!" Said Lily cutting across the voices bouncing off of the walls, "First off, we're not going out…it's just one date and we'll see where it goes, second off, he's been James since he started calling me Lily and not Evans. And lastly," she said going quite red again, "He didn't ask me out, I asked him."

Everyone else looked so gobsmacked that Hermione decided to interject, "When did you ask him?" She questioned with a small smile playing at her lips.

"Day before yesterday." Lily answered.

"Hang on!" Said Alice loudly, " Why didn't you tell us?"

Lily's sheepish grin was all of the answer she deemed Alice would get.

~o~o~o~

It was ten minutes later when Hermione found herself walking down to the Great Hall to meet Regulus. She wore simple clothes; a pair of jeans, several warm jumpers under a coat and a hat pulled down over her flyaway hair. It was only October but winter had decided to come early this year bringing with it bitter winds and freezing cold rain, and seeing how Hermione wasn't dressing to impress she saw no reason not to be wrapped up warmly.

Also much to her displeasure she walked with her cane in one hand. It had been at least a week since she had had to use it and even then it was only in the evenings when she became tired, but it seemed like today she had little choice. The cold weather had set her leg to aching fiercely and when Lily had seen the slight limp in Hermione's stride she had snatched the cane from where it had been resting on the floor beside Hermione's bed and pressed it into her hands with a face that left no room for argument. Hermione had to admit, however grudgingly, that walking was somewhat less of a task with the cane and she would probably need it if she were to walk all of the way into Hogsmeade. Still that did not mean that she had to like it.

"Hello, shall we be off?" Hermione started at the voice that came from close by to her left elbow but as she looked around she saw it was only Regulus. He was giving her a wry smile as her held out his arm to her and she retuned with her own rueful smile as she looped her arm through his. They had begun walking when Regulus chose to break the silence between them,

"So, why the sudden reappearance of the cane?" He questioned.

"The cold." Answered Hermione shortly, "It makes my leg ache." Regulus seemed to understand that that wasn't a subject that Hermione wanted to talk about so he quickly changed his conversation tactics and soon Hermione found herself having forgot about the cane as she laughed at some of the stories Regulus had to offer.

~o~o~o~

They hadn't been in Hogsmeade long before they found themselves tripping over the doorway and into The Three Broomsticks. Hermione went in search of a free table while Regulus went to get their drinks.

As Hermione settled down on one of the two chairs she had found she cast an eye around the pub. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to have changed that much from her time, there was still the gentle hum of other's talking in the background interspersed with the occasional raucous laugh. She could still smell the faint smell of the log fire burning in the background tangled with the scent the butterbeers being pulled at the bar. The most familiar feeling was the warm ambience and the literal warmth that pervaded they whole place, Hermione could feel the occasional stirrings of cold wind that was blown in through the opening door as people walked in but it just made her even more grateful to be out of the elements outside. In fact, the only thing that had really changed as far as Hermione could tell, was the people.

As Regulus returned with their drinks she sipped from hers gratefully and soon found herself talking easily with Regulus again. It was easy to talk to him, she decided, simply because he seemed to constantly poke fun at her and tease her. It was something familiar and Hermione ribbed him back automatically and mercilessly as was her instant reaction, having grown up with two male best friends.

There was another cold gust of wind that caught her attention as she looked up to see James and Lily walk through the door. Both had identical grins on their faces as they caught each others eyes and Hermione smirked smugly to herself as she looked at them. Even Regulus let out a snicker when he looked up and saw them together,

"Well I never thought I'd see the day." He said.

~o~o~o~

As they left the pub Hermione thought to herself that the day was turning out to be a pleasant one. That was until she heard a familiar drawl from behind her. Her first thought upon hearing it was why on earth he would talk to them, the second thought was something along the lines of _oh shit_.

"Well well, what have we got here?" Hermione turned to find herself face to face with who was undoubtedly a younger Lucious Malfoy. He looked much the same as his son had though there was something about him that set them apart drastically. It must have been that for the last few years that Hermione had seen Draco he had looked tired, drawn and ill; nothing like his father did now. She didn't think that he would go so far as to attack her here but automatically her wand was in her hand though the action was hidden by her sleeve.

"Hello, Lucious." Said Regulus stiffly and Hermione didn't miss the way that he positioned himself in front of her slightly as the unconscious gesture touched her more than she would say.

"Cousin." Lucious acknowledged, " And who is this?" He walked closer to Hermione and she consciously fought to keep herself from leaning backwards in disgust. "Slumming it are we? What would Aunt Walburga say?" He said as he tutted.

"I dare say it's none of your business." Said Regulus in an usually cold voice for him.

"Don't be like that cousin," said Malfoy with amusement weaving into his tone, "After all, I'm only worrying after the family reputation. I mean nothing personal, this one is quite lovely." He said with a leer as he leaned uncomfortably close to Hermione. He reached out with the back of his finger as if to stroke Hermione's cheek only to have his hand batted away angrily by Hermione by the hand with her wand in it.

"Oh? This one's feisty, but lets see how brave she is without this!" He said with a little malice creeping into his voice as he snatched her wand out of the hand that had just pushed his away.

The second her wand left contact with her body Hermione panicked. Her natural reaction was to try and snatch it back but he had already moved it out of her reach. Her second reaction was to try and tackle him for it but she had a feeling that not only would she look crazy and ridiculous, but he would probably come out of it on top. Her last few years in the war had beaten it into her brain how important it was to never leave herself undefended and as a result she found her hand inching lower on her cane to get a good grip. The cane was quite heavy for wood and was strong enough for what she had in mind.

In a quick and fluid movement Hermione had swung her cane around and used it like a rounder's bat to smash it into the side of Malfoy's head. She had put her whole body behind that swing and it paid off in the way he stumbled to the ground and released her wand which rolled to her feet. She picked it up with a smile and walked away leaving a dazed Lucious and stunned Regulus behind her.

~o~o~o~

Apart from that one incident the rest of the day turned out to be very enjoyable. She walked around the shops with Regulus as they talked about superficial things such as the weather and schoolwork. Once or twice she was sure she caught sight of the back of Sirius as he turned away but she decided to leave him be even if he did pop up with alarming regularity.

As they walked back into the castle she knew her day was about to get more complicated and probably marginally more frustrating when she walked past Malfoy who had a bruise blossoming on his temple and he smirked at her.

Minutes later she was told that her head of house wanted to see her. With a sinking heart she went where she was bid to.

When she arrived in Professor McGonagall's office the woman he she had to look at to as a mentor in her own time was sitting at her desk looking at her severely over her glasses.

"Take a seat Miss Granger." She said in a deceptively even tone. Warily Hermione did so. "Can you tell me why I am getting reports of you attacking another student?" Asked McGonagall once again managing to sound angry but in control; something Hermione had usually heard directed at Harry or Ron.

She winced as she tried to word her answer carefully, "Professor, did you say that Professor Dumbledore told you of my… situation?" Enquired Hermione delicately. A look Hermione couldn't identify flared in McGonagall's eyes.

"Yes, I have been told." She answered, " I found it hard to believe at first but he assured me that it was true."

Hermione nodded vigorously, "It is." She said.

"Be that as it may," said the Professor, "I fail to see how it ties into your current situation."

"When I left my time, Professor," Hermione said trying to convey the fact that she wasn't trying to worm her way out of trouble. That may have worked for Harry but she wasn't keen to try it, "Our world was at war. It was worse than it is today by far and I saw more of it than I should have liked. Malfoy took my wand off of me today, Professor, and I just…reacted. In my time if you lost your wand, you were as good as dead, it was just instinct to hit him to get it back." Hermione finished her explanation and looked up at McGonagall only to see that her teacher had gone a deathly white at her tales of war. A stricken expression sat on her face and her eyes were a shade of horror darker.

"But you're so young…" Said McGonagall, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hermione didn't have the heart to tell her that she was not the youngest by far to have been tainted by the war.

~o~o~o~

Back in the common room most of the Gryffindor seventh years were sitting in the arm chairs by the fire. Marlene and Peter had already gone to their respective beds and Lily sat with James' arm slung around the back of her chair. The others chose wisely not to comment.

"Has anyone seen Hermione?" Dorcas asked the rest of the group quietly. Remus shot her a sharp look but said nothing.

"Didn't you hear?" Said Alice gleefully, " She got called in to McGonagall's office!"

"What did she do?" Asked James curiously.

"And why are you so happy about it?" Lily said incredulously.

"I can't believe you haven't heard! " Said Alice, "She got called in 'cause she knocked Malfoy for the count! And I'm happy about it," She added, "because I saw the whole thing and it was bloody amazing!"

"What happened?" Asked Sirius practically bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Well, she was with Regulus," began Alice ignoring the way Sirius's mouth curled at the corners, "and Malfoy walked up behind them and started talking to them. I couldn't hear what he said but he managed to piss them both off, anyway he went to touch Hermione but she hit his hand away so he decided to take her wand. _Big mistake_. Next thing I knew Hermione lifted up her cane and hit him to the ground with it! Then she just picked up her wand and wandered away! It was a thing of beauty."

The rest of the group sat wide eyed and awed and by the time they managed to start to voice their feelings of shock and respect none of them noticed how Dorcas had slipped from the circle and up to her dorm.

~o~o~o~

Dorcas made her way silently into the dorm. By the sound of her light snoring Marlene was already asleep.

Dorcas wasn't completely sure why she'd left but hearing that latest story of Hermione had put her on edge. There was something slightly off about that girl and it annoyed her that no one else could seem to see it. She had told Remus but he either didn't think it was that big of a deal or he thought there could be another simple explanation.

When she broke free of these thoughts Dorcas realised she had been staring at Hermione's bed next to hers for a good minute or so. Sighing to herself but not giving herself anytime to reconsider her actions, she opened the drawers of Hermione's bed side table and began to rifle through it's contents. She knew Hermione was an intensely private person and wouldn't approve of this invasion of her privacy but the not knowing was driving Dorcas insane. Besides, she reasoned, if she didn't find anything here she would either give up or simply just ask Hermione straight up.

She was just about to give up, when she reached the bottom of the drawer and consequently the leather bound book that resided there. Standing straight she sat back on her bed to look at the book. It had the definite look of a photo album about it, and feeling only the vaguest stirrings of guilt, Dorcas settled down to flick through it.

…..

A/N- Hope you guys liked the chapter and thanks for reading! Please leave a review to tell what you thought if you've got the time,

All the best,

VE


	15. Chapter 15

_She was just about to give up, when she reached the bottom of the drawer and consequently the leather bound book that resided there. Standing straight she sat back on her bed to look at the book. It had the definite look of a photo album about it, and feeling only the vaguest stirrings of guilt, Dorcas settled down to flick through it._

Dorcas's hand paused on the cover before she took a deep breath and resolved to open it,

"What are you doing?" The voice from behind her startled her and guiltily she tried to hide the book behind her. She looked up to see Lily looking at her curiously,

"I was just…" Dorcas cleared her throat before changing tack, "What are you doing up here? I thought you'd be down there for longer."

Lily advanced towards her suspicion beginning to find root in her eyes, "You left a bit suddenly, I just wondered if you were okay… Dorcas, _what_ are you doing?"

Dorcas swallowed and tried to make her voice convincing, she never had been any good at lying, let alone lying to Lily who she was convinced could get a goblin to tell the truth if she so put her mind to it. "Nothing, just felt a bit tired." She gave a smile but felt it mangle on her face when Lily's eyes narrowed.

Dorcas let out a subtle breath as Lily turned to walk away, but it quickly became a strangled shriek when the girl in question turned around and tackled her for what she was holding behind her back. A furious few seconds of struggling later Lily emerged with a smile on her face and the book in her hands as she tried to blow some of hair out of her mouth,

"And you thought I'd given up." She said smugly as she looked at Dorcas, her eye was caught by Marlene still sleeping soundly on the bed across the dorm, "How does she do that?" She wondered out loud.

.Dorcas didn't smile and just braced herself for the realisation that she was sure was about to follow. Sure enough Lily's voice soon sounded again holding more confusion than it had done before, "Hang on… isn't this Hermione's? Why have you got it?" She looked at Dorcas questioningly. Dorcas just sighed. "You were going to go through it weren't you?" Lily demanded, indignation on Hermione's behalf bubbling to the surface.

Dorcas nodded.

"Why?" Asked Lily, the anger evident in her tone.

"Can you honestly tell me you don't think there's anything strange about her?" Asked Dorcas in a suddenly fierce whisper, now was the absolute worst time to wake up Marlene and she didn't want to be the one to do it, " What do you know about her, Lily? _Really _know?" Lily just looked at her in shock but now she had started she found she couldn't stop, "There is a _war _going on out there! She comes in with her sob story about being attacked but half of her story doesn't make sense, what was I supposed to think?" Dorcas all but stormed out of the dorms before walking out of the common room too. She didn't know where she was going to go but she knew she had to calm down. No one was going to believe anything she said while she was in a state such as this.

~o~o~o~

Hermione was making her way back from McGonagall's office, cane in hand, when she saw Dorcas.

She was walking towards her down the corridor but when she caught sight of Hermione she simply gave her a scathing look and turned the other way. Hermione was still wondering what was going on when she reached the common room. She was going to ask them if they knew anything about it but the moment her group of friends caught sight of her she was mobbed,

"Did you beat up Malfoy?"

"Oh, I wish I was there-"

"I was there!"

"Was there any particular reason or was he being a twat again?"

"How many detentions did McGonagall give you?"

Hermione held up her hands with a smile on her face. She still felt overwhelmed but it was nice to have such a warm welcome on her return. She had been counting on stony silences and awkward pauses because of the company she had gone with.

"One at a time!" She said still smiling.

"Did you beat the crap out of Malfoy?" The question came from Sirius whose voice definitely held a note of glee at the thought of one of his family members being attacked.

"Yes, I did." Said Hermione demurely hoping to cut off this line of questioning before it got to the _why _she's done it.

"Why?" This time the question came from Alice who looked excited and if Hermione remembered correctly had said she had been there at the time.

"Well, if you were there you must have seen. He took my wand. And lets be honest he won't be doing that again for a while!" Hermione allowed the beginnings of humour top creep into her voice and everyone laughed and soon enough broke into their own small conversations, leaving Hermione alone, just as she'd intended.

~o~o~o~

It was later that night just before Hermione was about to lay down to go sleep that she reached for her dreamless sleep potion, that she paused. Did she really want to take it anymore? She wondered if she could handle the dreams of the future and the subsequent pain if it meant seeing Harry. For the most part she found she could suppress any thought of her previous life during the day when she was busy, but it all became very hard at night when her mind was left to it's own devices. She so badly wanted to see him and she wondered would it help her stay strong?

She never got a chance to make her choice for at that moment a tentative hand landed on her shoulder and she turned to see Lily standing there shifting from foot to foot.

"I need to talk to you." She said in hushed tones before making her way to the common room swiftly. Hermione looked around the room to see if anyone else had noticed their exchange but they were all either absorbed in their own world as they got ready for bed or already asleep.

Curiously, Hermione followed.

When she reached the common room she saw that Lily was pacing up and down the room and her face clearly showed she was agitated,

"Lily?" Hermione asked, "Is everything alright?"

Lily looked up at her still on the stairs and seemed to come to a decision. "Yes. No. I don't know!" She collapsed onto a armchair and just sat there.

"What do you mean?" Asked Hermione as she walked closer and took the opposite chair.

"It's Dorcas." Said Lily shortly. " I walked up to the dorms earlier and she was about to go though your stuff, I got her to stop but she went off on one. Has she said anything to you?"

Hermione just shook her head but her mind flew back to the distrustful glance she'd received earlier.

Lily let go of a breath and sank further into her chair before heading back to the dorms, "I just thought you should know."

Hermione just nodded as she was left alone in the Common room.

~o~o~o~

The next morning went smoothly as far as Hermione was concerned. Nothing out of the ordinary happened though she did keep an eye on Dorcas. Hermione noticed that even though she appeared to be making an effort to treat her normally she couldn't keep the suspicion out of her face and actions.

Still, she could put that to one side to deal with later, the immediate problem she had to deal with was Defence against the Dark Arts. Her friends (and Remus in particular) had been wary of upsetting her every since she ran out in her first class. That wasn't her only problem. Ever since her first lesson the Defence professor had been keeping an eye on her, and she wasn't exactly subtle bout it. In fact by the end of that lesson, she found herself excused from the lesson after at the express desire of said professor.

As she sat down in the chair of the sparsely decorated office she was acutely aware of her situation. It was imperative that she gave nothing away here, for the slightest slip could send her story tumbling.

When the Professor actually walked in Hermione was ready for any line of questioning but had decided to play on her innocence for just a little while longer,

"Can I help you with anything, Professor?" She asked making sure to sit straight and look her teacher dead in the eye.

"Well, for a start you can call me Rosie." A twitch of the lips on her Professor's part left Hermione completely confused. The older woman saw this and smiled slightly causing the scar on her face to crinkle.

"Rosie?" Asked Hermione.

"Short for Rosalind." She said, "It's just us here and what I'm about to ask you does stray into the personal, so I think it's best if we're on a first name basis, don't you?"

She waited for Hermione's reply and carried on when she got an unsure nod from the young witch. "Excellent. And yes there is something you can help me with. I'd like to know why you're here and what it's like in the future." Rosalind's voice hardened at the end of speech and steel glinted in her eyes. Unconsciously, Hermione's fingers twitched towards her wand but faster than she could see Rosalind's wand was trained on her with a perfectly steady hand, "Not so fast," the Professor said grimly, "I think you'd better start talking."

…

A/N- First off I'm sorry for the wait and the length but I hope you still enjoyed reading, if you did all thoughts and reviews are welcome, thank you!

VE


	16. Chapter 16

"_Short for Rosalind." She said, "It's just us here and what I'm about to ask you does stray into the personal, so I think it's best if we're on a first name basis, don't you?"_

_She waited for Hermione's reply and carried on when she got an unsure nod from the young witch. "Excellent. And yes there is something you can help me with. I'd like to know why you're here and what it's like in the future." Rosalind's voice hardened at the end of speech and steel glinted in her eyes. Unconsciously, Hermione's fingers twitched towards her wand but faster than she could see Rosalind's wand was trained on her with a perfectly steady hand, "Not so fast," the Professor said grimly, "I think you'd better start talking." _

For a second Hermione was sure that she had misheard. The accusation was so random and unforeseen that her mind told her that there was no feasible way that the woman in front of her had just figured out what she had been trying so desperately to hide.

The result was that Hermione was left completely speechless as she gaped at the professor, "Excuse me?" she said weakly.

"Don't start with that." Snapped the woman in front of her still holding her wand perfectly still, "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Well, I hate to break it to you but I did." Rosalind continued to stare at her but something in her gaze seemed less harsh, "My bet is that you don't want to be here, so why don't you tell me and I'll see if I can help."

Hermione felt her shoulders slump in defeat, "You can't help. And you're right; I didn't end up here by choice."

The wand trained on Hermione dipped as Rosalind leaned back in her seat and gave Hermione a appraising look. "Well," She said slowly and deliberately, "I think you should start at the beginning."

~o~o~o~

Hermione talked for what seemed like hours but in actual fact was just the one. She gave her view of the war as dispassionately as she was able and without a personal opinion, after all she still wasn't too sure about this woman. Rosie listened the whole time, and although she lowered it, her hand was still wrapped around her wand. When Hermione had finished her story her the professors' face showed no emotion apart from the furrow in her brow which had appeared when she described how she got to this time.

"Show me your hand." It was obviously a command and reluctantly Hermione gave her hand.

"Interesting," muttered Rosalind as she turned over Hermione's hand in her own, "And this is where the time sand is trapped, you say?" Hermione just gave a nod.

"Professor Dumbledore said it would stay there until my body metabolises it. After that," Hermione gave a shrug, "I'll either stay here or go home."

"But how to know which one?" Asked Rosalind softly. Hermione got the sense she was talking to herself more than anyone else and bit back the forming reply.

Rosalind just continued to look at the faint scar which marked the hand in front of her before Hermione drew it back.

"I do have one question though," Said Hermione, "How did you know where I was from?"

Rosalind fixed her with a hard stare, "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, nobody else will be able to tell, but I have my… ways."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but the glint of steel was back in Rosie's eyes and common sense told her that she would be able to get nothing else out of the teacher today.

~o~o~o~

Hermione was walking down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room completely lost in her own thoughts. She couldn't think of where at all she had slipped up in her cover story in front of the professor. She had barely had any contact with the woman, it seemed physically impossible that she could know.

Her face was downcast as she walked and her thoughts a million miles away, she was only shaken from them when she walked around a corner and straight into someone.

"You alright?" She looked up straight into the face of Sirius Black. He had obviously changed since the end of lessons and stood there with a broomstick in his hand. Seeing as her mind was already cast back to her own time, the slight shock of Sirius fogged her mind for a few seconds.

"Yes, yes I'm fine." she replied distractedly already trying to side step him.

"Whoa, not so fast. What happened today?" Hermione looked at him in confusion.

"What d'you mean?" She asked uncertainty colouring her tone.

"You were dragged out of class by the crazy teacher and didn't come back," He said looked at her strangely for seemingly not remembering, "What happened?" He repeated.

"Oh that was nothing." Said Hermione airily, trying to brush of the subject, "She just wanted to talk."

"About?" Prompted Sirius.

Hermione cast her mind desperately trying to come up with a feasible tale to explain away her absence before she struck gold, "She's the defence against the dark arts teacher, Sirius," She said as evenly as she could, "And I was attacked by death eaters. What do you think she wanted to talk about?"

Sirius looked abashed at her answer but Hermione was just glad that he had stopped probing her story. She stepped around him and started to walk away before she heard his voice.

"Hey, do you fancy doing something?" Hermione turned back and looked at him questioningly, "You look like you need cheering up." He said plainly in way of an explanation.

"Thanks." She said flatly, "I think I'm just going to go to the common room." She knew that the most likely option was that she was going to end up theorising and obsessing for hours about how Rosie could have possibly known about her origins before eventually giving into exhaustion but there was no need to tell that to Sirius.

"Come on." He wheedled, "We won't be gone long, and we could do something fun."

"No thanks." She said. Sirius just looked at her with wide eyes before she caved, "Like what?" She asked begrudgingly.

"We could go flying?" He suggested.

Hermione pulled a face before, "I don't like flying."

Sirius looked scandalised, "How can you not like flying?" He asked incredulously.

"My friends used to like it," said Hermione looking anywhere but Sirius, "but I never really took to it." Sirius was wise enough not to question the use of past tense.

"Right, we're going for a walk." He said decisively.

Hermione opened her mouth to object but stopped. She couldn't think of any excuses, she could probably use the time outside and her leg wasn't causing her any grief, so why not?

"Ok, you win." She said with a small smile "Lets go for a walk.

"I knew you'd give in in the end." He said with slightly smug grin, "All the ladies find me irresistible."

~o~o~o~

"It pathetic actually."

"I think it's quite sweet."

"You don't realise how much he talks about her, it's always 'Lily this' or 'Lily that'."

"Jealous, are we?"

"Merlin, no! Honestly he's gone completely soft. I was looking for a quill the other day so I went in one of his drawers and you'll never guess what I found…"

"Actually I'm fairly sure I don't want to know. Scratch that. I _definitely _don't want to know."

"- a picture of her! He keeps a picture of her by his bed. Wait, what did you think I was going to say?…and they say I have the dirty mind!"

Hermione was still laughing as the both of them fell through the portrait hole. She had been pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to spend time with Sirius without it being awkward. They had walked around the lake twice talking about frivolous things that mattered little to either of them. They had only started walking back to the castle when the light began to fade as dusk settled in.

It felt like a little bit of the weight had been removed from her shoulders helping her stand a little straighter, even only for a short time; but it was enough. It was enough to know that she could still laugh even after everything. There was still much to be done and worked through but it was a welcome reprieve from the grief and heartache that had become her life.

As they both walked through the common room they ended up settling with Marlene, Remus and James all of whom sat around the fireplace playing cards. It was a quiet evening and Hermione wasn't quite as sharp witted or talkative as she had been with Sirius alone but it was nice. It was something to draw strength from.

~o~o~o~

It wasn't that much later that Hermione excused herself to bed. She knew it was early but she had plans for that night and a decision to be made and she didn't want either to be interrupted. Sure enough, she was the first one in the room and she walked straight to her bed and rifled through her drawers.

When she had what she had been looking for she sat down heavily on the bed and looked at the unassuming vial which lay in her hands. She knew that if she took the potion she would be granted another night of dreamless peace but she would remain oblivious. If she took it she could end up wishing she hadn't. She remembered all too well the effects of the last dream, the vomiting, the shaking, the feeling like hell warmed up. But she also remembered the euphoria of knowing that Harry survived and that he was safe. Maybe it was worth it.

Her eyes narrowed. If there was one thing she knew it was that knowledge was power, and in this situation she had no knowledge of what was to come. Quickly, so as not to reason her way out of it Hermione vanished the potion and threw herself under the covers to wait for sleep to come.

As her mind drifted and her eyes became heavy only one face on her mind. She could see Rosalind as she refused to answer how she knew Hermione was from the future.

If these dreams could help her figure out the future maybe they could help figure out the presence because at the moment both were a mystery to her.

…..

A/N- Sorry for the long wait but I hope you like it! Reviews and opinions would be lovely and thank you for reading!

VE


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